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UNC Board
appears set
on reversing
historic gains
The Republican-controlled UNC Board of
Governors appears to be going full-throttle to find
ways to dismantle the University of North Carolina
system as we know it. A board member told
NCPolicyWatch.com that the board is moving to
"right-size" the 17-campus UNC system. This means
possibly closing the five historically black colleges
and universities (HBCUs) in North Carolina.
The state's HBCUs - Winston-Salem State
University, Elizabeth City State University,
Fayetteville State University, North Carolina A&T
State University and North Carolina Central
University - have been a part of North Carolina for
more than a century.
First, there was the University of North Carolina,
which was chartered by the North Carolina General
Assembly in 1789. In 1877, the General Assembly
began adding institutions of higher education,
diverse in origin and purpose. The five historically
black institutions were added, and another was
founded to educate Native Americans. Several were
created to prepare teachers for the public schools.
Others had a technological emphasis. One is a train
ing school for performing artists. Other schools were
added in 1931 and 1971. The last school was added
in 1985.
WSSU was founded by Dr. Simon Green Atkins
as Slater Industrial Academy. To see that the school
has developed into Winston-Salem State University,
a four-year institution, says volumes about how
HBCUs have evolved. With so much history and
successes behind them, HBCUs should be touted.
However, the UNC Board of Governors is target
ing the HBCUs, which seem to be easy targets. What
is the Board's thinking? That North Carolina doesn't
need smaller schools that cater to specific popula
tions? Does the board want North Carolina to return
to the 19th century?
North Carolina is known for its wide array of
educational opportunities for students and expertise
opportunities for professors and staff members.
North Carolina is known for its HBCUs, which have
graduated minority and non-minority students who
have gone on to be outstanding, productive citizens.
The list of those students could go on and on. What
would have happened if the colleges had not been
there to educate them?
UNC Board of Governor member Harry Smith
Jr., who is chairman of the UNC Board's budget and
finance committee, told NCPolicyWatch.com that
"You've got to have a conversation about HBCUs.
And how many you need, we've got five," which is
more public HBCUs than any other state. He seems
to think the UNC system is too big.
Although Smith said the Board will look at the
entire system for inefficiencies, he seems to think it
will be easy to target the HBCUs because of the
number there are in North Carolina. How many
should there be? Then again, why are there any state
supported schools of higher education? Why do we
even need a UNC Board of Governors? Why do we
need 32 members?
The North Carolina Senate and House will be
voting soon on which 16 citizens will be appointed to
the Board because 16 of the 32 positions are up for
renewal this year.
Why can't the Republican-controlled North
Carolina General Assembly change the number of
members on the board, like members are changing
the number of members of several cities' lawmaking
bodies? If lawmakers can change Greensboro's law
making body, for instance, why can't they change the
Board of Governors? The Board of Governors seems
rather large.
The line of thinking supported by the UNC Board
of Governors is terribly flawed. The rich history of
higher education in North Carolina is threatened. The
Board appears headed toward arbitrarily deciding
what is best for North Carolina's higher education
system. That's not how the system was built.
If the Board continues on this path, the history of
the higher education system in North Carolina will
read more like a tragedy than a drama with a happy
ending.
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GREENSBORO
Is insanity a requirement for people
to be black and Republican in U.S.?
Bill
Tlirner
Guest
Columnist
In early March, when
as-yet unannounced 2016
Republican presidential
candidate Dr. Ben Carson
stated his views on gays, I
turned to an old saying that
explains what some blacks
do to become authentic and
valued figures in conserva
tive circles: "First, they fill
their mouths with marbles.
Next, they start talking.
Then, when they have lost
all of their marbles, they
become legitimate and
respected Republicans!"
Dr. Carson is on an
ever-lengthening list of
blacks who, in order to
cozy up to the extreme
right wing of the GOP, will
utter the most conspicuous
ly offensive words, all in
service to firing up right
wing support. Black
Republican Vemon
Robinson of Winston
Salem - Dr. Carson's cam
paign director, himself a
perennial candidate, while
running recently for NC's
5th congressional district
- used the slogan: "Jesse
Helms is back. This time
he is black!" Mr. Robinson
might want to add right
wing nut job to his impres
sive resume, which
includes study at the US
Air Force Academy and
University of Missouri
MBA School.
If Dr. Carson - a highly
acclaimed pediatric neuro
surgeon - is right when he
says that "a lot of people
who go into prison straight,
and when they come out,
they're gay," then it could
be assumed that a lot of
blacks who go into the
Republican party stable
and sane become flat-out
foolish and say things that
are disreputable, divisive,
hurtful and very, very stu
pid.
Dr. Carson joins the
ranks of Associate Justice
Clarence Thomas who
came up with several sharp
and disgusting insults
against affirmative action
during confirmation hear
ings for his Supreme Court
seat. Both The College of
Holy Cross and Yale Law
School are on record for
the programs they put in
place in the 1960s to com
pensate for the exclusion pf
black
students
like
USA will cease to exist."
When Mia Love, a
Haitian-American
Mormon, became the first
black Republican woman
elected to the U.S.
Congress last fall, she
pooh-poohed the premise
of a question about the role
of her race or the immi
grant status of her parents
in her election. "I think
what we need to mention
blacks believe in uplifting,
personal responsibility,
family values, and reli
gious virtue. Once on the
mountaintop of media
attention, however, these
black believers in God and
country, say, in the words
of former Florida
Congressman Alan West,
"As conservatives, we
don't care about the color
of your skin; we care about
"As conservatives, we don't care
about the color of your skin; we
care about the color of our flag."
-Former Congressman Allen West
Clarence Thomas.
Godfather Pizza CEO
Herman Cain often fueled
his 2012 run for the
Republican presidential
nomination with belliger
ent statements such as:
"Don't blame Wall Street,
don't blame the big banks.
If you don't have a job and
you are not rich, blame
yourself!"
Who can forget - or
remembers - black
Republican Alan Lee
Keyes, whom President
Ronald Reagan appointed
to the State Department in
1985 and who later moved
to Illinois in an attempt to
take the Senate seat once
occupied by Barack
Obama, about whom he
said: "Obama is a radical
Communist... we are either
going to stop him or the
with race," she said.
"Understand that Utahans
have made a statement that
they're not interested in
dividing Americans based
on race or gender. That's
really what made history
here. It's that race and gen
der had nothing to do with
it. Principles had every
thing to do with it, and
Utah values had everything
to do with it." Wearing
blinders or rose-colored
glasses dismiss and distort,
but they do not drive out
reality.
Black Republicans run
ning for office not only
start at the political center,
at the very least, but, once
acknowledged publically,
they quickly move to an
over-the-top message that
deliberately ignores the
historical fact that most
People like Herman
Cain, Ben Carson, Allen
Keyes, Mia Love, Vernon
Robinson, Clarence
Thomas, Alan West, and
many other black conserva
tives, including Thomas
Sowell and Condoleezza
Rice, are all very sharp,
quick-witted, and excep
tionally intelligent people.
Too bad that in order to be
appealing and saleable
inside the predominantly
white Republican Party
they feel obligated to per
form a version of them
selves that is equivalent to
having lost their marbles.
No matter one's political
affiliation, in that game, we
all lose.
This column is copy
right by William H. Turner
? 3/8/2015.
Cain
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