Dive Brief:
- A leadership change in North Carolina politics over the last five years has had distinct reverberations throughout its university system.
- The New Yorker reports on the philosophical stakes when a high-performing but distinctly progressive UNC president is pushed out and a Republican-led policy committee at the state unilaterally votes to shut down three research centers, one focusing on the environment, one on voter engagement, and the third on poverty, work, and opportunity.
- Corporate leaders are funneling donations to specific courses or programs with more conservative ideologies and professors are scared to speak on or write about topics political leaders will not like, according to the article.
Dive Insight:
The university system is under attack in several states. Republican governors in Wisconsin, Illinois, Kansas, and Louisiana are proposing or have instituted major cuts to higher education. In several states, there is a concerted focus from party leaders to change the purpose of higher education to merely job training. In the business parlance of cost-benefit, these governors advocate for greater collaboration with local employers to prepare students for waiting jobs, skipping the well-rounded liberal arts education that prepares students for life.