Blowing a grand opportunity with the UNC system
The GOP takeover in Raleigh presented all kinds of opportunities to remake the political landscape for years to come. Long-time liberal bureaucrats could be weeded out of the state bureaucracy and be replaced with more even-keeled or conservative ones. (Yet, we have the governor’s office falling all over itself to appoint Democrats to stuff.)
A great opportunity to remake the UNC system was also there. UNC has been churning out — on our dime — a whole lot of left-wing skulls of mush for decades. From the administrators to the faculty to the support staff (janitorial and cafeteria, et. al.) the place is packed with far-lefties. This nonsense has been growing and being nurtured on the hard earned tax dollars of God-fearing, capitalism-loving North Carolinians.
But then we got Republican legislative leaders like Thom Tillis and Phil Berger and Nelson Dollar foresaking the appointment of serious-minded reformers to the UNC governing boards for the retention or appointment of big donors and Democrats. Those boards COULD open up opportunities for more conservative-minded folks to join the ranks of faculty or administration. But you’ve got to appoint people who think like that to those boards in order to get that ball rolling.
Why, just last week, UNC appointed a big ol’ Howard Dean / Al Gore lefty to head up its law school.
Oh, it gets better. The educrats howled about a bill that appeared in the legislature in March requiring faculty to teach EIGHT classes a year. That’s right. EIGHT CLASSES A YEAR. On an average $90,000 annual paycheck. (Oh, the humanity.)
The *nightmarish details* of SB593 — that were circulated to legislators — are HERE. This bill ended up getting buried in a black hole somewhere on Jones Street. I asked one of my Jones Street sources about the back-story on this: 
“I was told that we weren’t going near that subject with a ten-foot pole, because we really didn’t want to step on the board’s toes and get them upset.”
SCREECH!!!! Legislators worried about “upsetting” the UNC board? Why? (Oh, yeah. They are all big contributors to political campaigns.)
Let’s fast forward to the academics / athletics scandal currently embroiling the UNC system. The NCAA has accused UNC of “a lack of institutional control.” That is not a slap at Roy Williams or Larry Fedora. THAT is a slap at all of the people who are supposed to be big-picture managing the university system itself. There is a macro-level management problem, and no one has seemed all that serious about addressing it. Perhaps the NCAA will finally force the issue.
The woes don’t stop there. The system’s accreditation is still being reviewed and may be in jeopardy. And let’s not forget former basketball player Rashad McCants’s still-pending lawsuit.
The conservative revolution can keep sticking its head in the sand and ignoring the problems at UNC. Keep appointing and reappointing the status quo-adoring big donors. But staying the course jeopardizes the ability for years to come to actually provide a quality education at a UNC campus.
Actually, as an alumnus of UNC Law, I’m VERY happy about the new law school dean. While I would of course prefer someone who shares my political philosophy, the new dean is someone who is a very successful attorney with connections to the business world and law firms all across the state. He is by all accounts a brilliant and accomplished corporate lawyer with a good business sense. (Somehow there are a few business-minded folk that are in that party)
Unlike the rarefied hothouse flowers of academia (Prof. Nichol anyone…), this man has spent his life serving clients, mostly private companies, for money, not spending his tenured days teaching a class or two and advocating for government to fix all the problems of the world in an unread law journal. After years of academics and activists at the top, this man could bring a much-needed business sense to UNC Law. Although he is apparently a Democrat, I think he has the ability to bring a much-needed does of common sense to the law school. It desperately needs to reconnect with the business and legal community within the state, and maybe this will start to happen.
Of course, if he fails, I’m all for increased BOG and NCGA supervision. The BOG has already upset the apple cart by letting Gov. Hunt’s buddy Tom Ross go, so they are clearly willing to take some heat for tough decisions.
If you have been in the trenches for many years you would consider the fact that the Democratic understand party politics. Republicans have only been in total control a little over 3 years and given that, we still have a long ways to go to be the governing party leaders.
Rule 1: just because they give you money doesn’t
mean they will vote for you.
Rule 2: Reguardless if they give you money or not the Democrats know party politics well
Rule 3: Democrats know if they buy enough
appointments it will pay dividends.
Rule 4 : If you don’t learn the first and many
Other quick you will be out of the
Majority.
I’m hearing that Jim Hunt wants NC State Chancellor Woodson to take Ross’s place. The reasoning is that Woodson would protect the liberal status quo in Chapel Hill. If that is true, I hope the BOG won’t fall for it.
The new UNC law school dean is a card-carrying liberal who will keep the liberal light brightly burning at UNC Law. No conservative was even considered for the position. Why even have a Republican Board of Governors?
Folks, I have been fussin’ about all the high-up democrats who have retained their posts after our “Republican” take over as well as the appointments of democrats to key positions. As “who’s on first” said, democrats UNDERSTAND party politics.
The word on the street is that the RINO appointees to the BOG have no intention of appointing a conservative scholar and reform leader to replace the leftist Tom Ross. Apparently the marching orders have come down to find someone who is acceptable to the Democrats, the leftwing media, and the Chapel Hill liberal Democratic establishment. In return, the RINOs only want the UNC athletic program and the Rams Club protected from further assault. The liberals have agreed to this deal. Isn’t bipartisanship wonderful?