Editorial: UNC trustees' new 'school' is affirmative action for the privileged

CBC Editorial: Friday, Feb . 17, 2023; editorial #8827

The following is the opinion of Capitol Broadcasting Company

What David Boliek, the Trustees chair of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill wants is an affirmative action program.

To cut through the rhetoric and distracting noise, that is the truth behind the effort Boliek is leading to establish a “School for Civic Life and Leadership.”

“We have no shortage of left-of-center, progressive views on our campus, like many campuses across the nation,” Boliek said. “But the same really can’t be said about right-of-center views.”

On what data might Boliek be making his determination that the kind of affirmative action program he’s seeking to launch is needed?

In a recent column, no doubt drafted with at least the aid of a public relations firm hired at $50,000 of public expense, he contended that research showed “more than half of Carolina’s conservative students and one in five centrist students censor themselves in political discussions.”

What Boliek didn’t say is the research he is referencing includes the views of just 2.5% of UNC-CH’s undergraduates. And even of the 506 who did offer up survey responses, a mere 15% (80) identified themselves as conservatives while 14% (70) said they were moderates. It is unwise at best to make assumptions based on less than half a percent of the undergraduate student body.

What Boliek didn’t mention from the survey was that it found “faculty generally do not push political agendas in class.” The survey goes even further. “We find little evidence that faculty create a highly politicized atmosphere in UNC System classrooms.” The findings for the UNC-CH campus were similar to those found on the other seven campuses surveyed. Why doesn’t he give that finding similar weight?

Further, there’s been the contention, based on examinations of faculty partisan political affiliations, of some kind of bias.

“Democrats outnumber Republican professors 16 to 1 at UNC,” screamed an Aug. 24, 2022 headline.

But digging a bit deeper into the data uncovered something less shocking but more revealing. Of the 405 faculty whose voter registration was checked – it is all public record – 46% were either unaffiliated or “unknown because they could not be identified within the voter database.” Again, incomplete data can lead to, at best, uncertain assumptions if not inaccurate ones.

Also, why does Boliek feel there needs to be some kind of affirmative action program to elevate voices that, in fact, already dominate the public, political discourse in North Carolina?

It would be hard to identify a megaphone louder or more powerful in North Carolina than the one belonging to those who label themselves conservatives like leaders of the North Carolina General Assembly.

Their views, initiatives and opinions hold sway and dominate discussion in political, policy and media circles.

The volume of that megaphone, by extension, also applies to the UNC System Board of Governors – who are all appointed by the leadership of the General Assembly. And that similarly amplifies the voices and opinions of the UNC-CH Trustees -- eight of whom are appointed by the UNC Board (who, as noted earlier are appointed by the legislature) and four more are appointed directly by the legislature.

While Boliek and others who share his tinted view would like to create a culture of victimhood – nothing could be further from the truth.

More likely he and his allies are looking, at public expense, to provide a platform of indoctrination for their ideological bias and groom future generations to their point of view.

That is not the stuff that builds a world-class system of higher education.

NOTE: The editorial has been updated to correct the spelling of David Boliek's name.

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