UNC students have a tough gig: representing a school that’s under attack | Opinion

I was asked, some months back, by a group of University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill student leaders to speak about navigating the political challenges of the Tar Heel State at their fall orientation.

Being a careful sort, I first wondered whether the General Assembly or the Board of Governors had somehow made it illegal for me to do so. I couldn’t find anything.

I recalled that I had been asked in the past to explain to all audiences “I do not speak for the University of North Carolina.” But I’m not sure if that specific Nichol dictate is still active — all the chancellors and provosts who imposed it seem to have been dispatched for failing to please their political masters.

So, I figured, why not take up the invite?

When I arrived on the appointed afternoon, I was glad I’d said yes. It was an astonishing group of Tar Heels. Young folks from all over the nation and the world. Greatly diverse — Black, white, brown, every shade between; women, men, trans folks; some students looking like fraternity guys, lots looking anything but. Brilliant, idealistic, bold, ambitious. The kind of room that can’t help but give you hope for the future.

I decided to be brief, figuring no such assembly, despite the invitation, could have much interest in the thoughts of a 73-year-old professor.

I said, first they have an important job — representing Carolina students — but a tough one. Why tough? Because UNC is now controlled by boards of governors and trustees that are an occupying force, not good faith officials. They are foot soldiers of the Republican General Assembly. No more, no less.

And that’s tough, I told the students, because I’m pretty sure the occupying force’s actions won’t easily be squared with the way students see the world. I mentioned some things they likely already knew.

These folks forced the journalism school to engage in one of the most derided acts of overt racial discrimination in decades — refusing to tenure famous African American journalist, Nicole Hannah Jones.

They gutted the law school’s civil rights center — because they didn’t like the idea of lawyers and students representing poor people of color.

They entered into a shameful agreement over Silent Sam with the Sons of the Confederate Veterans — trying to give the outfit, which has been tied to white supremacy, millions of dollars. Then they kicked the chair of the UNC Press off the board for criticizing the sweet Confederate veterans deal.

They abolished our diversity programs last year, firing staff members and ending vital support for often marginalized students — because they appear to hate the term diversity and, even more, the reality of it.

They’ve taken upon themselves the power to create courses, requirements and departments in rank violation of American traditions of faculty governance and freedom.

And as the American Association of University Professors determined , the school-governing boards have repeatedly engaged in partisan political interference and racial discrimination — crushing the central values and future prospects of a great American university.

I also explained that administrators and even faculty don’t always stand up to oppose these outrages, as might be assumed. Faculty want to be left alone to teach their classes. Administrators know they’ll get fired if they do their jobs. So they don’t do their jobs.

But students have a surprising voice in public universities when they choose to use it. These board members are pawns, but, oddly, they still want students to like them. Most board members don’t want to be seen as out to crush students’ idealism and engagement to please their overseers. And, thank God, students aren’t as easy to frighten as faculty and administrators.