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HOW THE LEGISLATURE ANNEXED PUBLIC HIGHER EDUCATION TO PARTISAN POLITICS

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Contributor "Will Davie's Ghost" analyzes what is arguably the most significant instance of politicization of public higher education in the 45 year history of the UNC system. HIGHER EDUCATION IN THE JONES STREET DOMINION As the end of the recent legislative session fades into the past, North Carolinians should know that moment also marks the establishment of a new era for public higher education in this state: lawmakers finally swept aside or transgressed nearly all the checks and balances protecting our universities from partisan political interference. These new statutory provisions are so broad in reach, and ill-conceived in substance, that members of the University community are still struggling to make sense of the implications and intent of this historically unprecedented arrogation of power. The full force of these changes will not be felt for months, and in some cases for years, but when they are citizens will wonder how one of the best systems of ...
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Cecil Staton (and ECU) discover Governance Chaos Theory

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LINKS AND FURTHER EDITING FORTHCOMING. This is a first cut on this one. Inside Higher Ed (and Rick Seltzer in particular) caught up with the Executive leadership mess now unfolding in Greenville . Cecil Staton has had one foot out the door for at least 9 months. (It was very interesting watching the Board of Governors, and Staton, struggle to respond when some of the BoG radicals tried to savage Staton and ECU several months ago). Now Staton is going -- and (like Tom Ross, and probably Margaret Spellings) he has a 'non-disparagement' clause for his severance contract.  (Hell, if they had given me one of those payouts, I probably never would have considered writing these things. Then again, that would have meant nightly and nasty visits from Cato's Ghost, so I probably would have been shamed into backing out of any payout deal. Sometimes cowardice protects you from being stupid, too.) 
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  The Right Changes for UNC Steven Bachenheimer and Stephen Leonard The UNC Strategic Planning process has always been an occasion to recommit ourselves to the ideals for which public higher education in North Carolina was established. Today, it appears to have become the occasion for implementing radical changes favored by a handful of individuals in the state legislature, on the UNC Board of Governors, and in various Washington and Raleigh think tanks. Against all evidence to the contrary, and against the long and venerable tradition that has made public higher education in North Carolina a model for the nation and the world, the changes being promoted suggest that the widely available, broadly accessible, and readily affordable system of higher education we have is an extravagance North Carolina does not need. For example, Board of Governors member Fred Eshelman, described by pundits at the Pope Center for Higher Education Policy as “leading the charge” for radical chan...
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