Home ‹ Blogs ‹ BobLee Says ‹ January 2013 ‹ AP: Pat McCrory versus UNC-CH navel-gazers

AP: Pat McCrory versus UNC-CH navel-gazers

AgentPierceSaid:

Jan 29, ’13: It didn’t take (Repub) Governor Pat McCrory long to take aim at a bitter enemy of any/all things “Not Liberal” – The University of North Carolina @ Chapel Hill. Anyone who didn’t see this one coming has been in a coma for 50 years. Pat is going after the Franklin Street navel-gazers. This oughta be fun.....

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Gov PMc is saying state-funding for “higher education” should be tied to the effectiveness of said institutions in preparing its students for the adult job markets.

“Some of the educational elite have taken over education, where we're offering courses that have no chance of getting people jobs”.

..... Gov PMc might as well have been in the PNC last Saturday wearing Red&White and cheering GoPack. That statement of purpose won’t bother 15 of the 16 UNC campuses. It will send “The Flagship” into a full-blown conniption fit.

“The other 15” already do focus on “education for a real world application” whether its NC State with its renown Engineering & Agricultural Schools among others..... East Carolina producing teachers and other direct applications to the Downeast economy..... or UNC-W. UNC-G, UNC-A, Pembroke etc etc from Culhowee to Elizabeth City.

It’s no secret (except to a certain regional newspaper) that The UNC System has been firmly controlled since its inception by alumni of, and really really good friends of, that Chapel Hill branch of The System.   The rotating 32 member UNC Brd of Governors are appointed by the NC General Assembly which, until two years ago, was firmly controlled by – ding ding ding – the Liberal Democrats.

Many of the GenAssem members had ties to UNC-CH as undergraduates or grad school especially its Law School.   “The other 15” pretty much got “the leftovers” from any financial pie.   Not that they were treated shabbily its just that UNC-CH was always “more equal” than all the rest. That began to change two years ago as a Republican-controlled GenAssem began appointing the UNC Brd of Gov members.

The UNC-CH super majority of UNC Brd of Gov members has already disappeared and will be even further balanced by the upcoming next round of appointments. Members rotate off of 8-year terms.

UNC-CH administration saw it’s vaunted “us first” status begin to disappear two years ago. That did not go over well in the Orange County academic enclave.   Now the Chief Executive of The State is targeting their vaunted uber-liberal navel-gazing more specifically.

Make no mistake. UNC admins and faculty did NOT vote for Pat McCrory.... did not and do not “like” Pat McCrory..... and were not going to vote for or like him regardless of what he might say about them.   Ergo, Pat has not lost one iota of support with this recent statement.   He most surely HAS gained additional support from the sizable ABUNC-CH (AnyoneBut-UNC-CH) faction across the state.

For The Record: There ARE a few non-muddleheads among the UNC Brd of Trustees. I know that for a FACT. No, I can't reveal them. They would get their campus parking stickers revoked if I did.

While each UNC campus has a handful of navel-gazing curricula. UNC-CH’s curriculum cup runneth-over with a veritable Saturday Night Live skit of “what that heck do you do with a degree in _______” courses of study.

The ratio of real courses to really silly courses is reversed at UNC-CH to what it is at “the other 15”.   A fact UNC-CH’s faculty snoots have long bragged about.

Among the most often examples of “whattayoudowith” curriculum are African American Studies and Gender Studies ??? The recent scandal re: UNC-CH’s AfAm Dept hasn’t helped in this regard.   That the newly appointed AfAm Dept head is an avowed Communist probably won’t go over well on Jones Street either.

UNC-CH’s legendary “faculty snoots” have long looked down their patrician noses at “the other 15” as glorified community colleges.   Uh oh.... probably shouldna done that “snoots”.

The nasty blowback at The Governor from "the UNC snoots" will be more predictable than a Woody Durham broadcast.

Gov PMc has just said that he thinks “the other 15” should get first dibs on future state funds since they make a more quantitatively measurable contribution to the state.

To which there will be a very very loud HARRUMPH emanating from Chapel Hill.

We’ll be following this closely in the weeks to come.   Gov PMc's Democratic predecessors (even Dumplin' The Twit) have traditionally received VIP seating at The Dean Dome. That likely ain't gonna happen for Pat now..... "McCrory" will about as popular a name on Franklin Street as Nyang'oro or Krzyzewski. Ouch!

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Posted: January 29, 2013 at 5:41 PM by SaidWHATMedia | with 10 comments

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Comments

	Renaissance Wolf
	I don't particularly have a problem with liberal arts being included as part of a well-rounded education, and I'm not one of the ultraneocons that wants to strike down the entirety of liberal arts education. Liberal arts education has some merits to it. For one, it makes one less of a bore in conversational settings. In some cases, like an English or history degree, a liberal arts education actually does prepare one to do something besides wait tables after the conclusion of their education (ie teach school). At little ol Moo U, even the most rigid, humorless engineers on campus have to take a pretty good load of psychology, sociology, history, and philosophy to make it out of the College of Engineering with a degree stating his/her worthiness to be a graduate. I took those along with design, film, and other arts-based courses because I wanted to be well-rounded and more interesting than the majority of my engineer counterparts. However, none of those artsy classes were easy either, and all challenged me to think and put in effort, some in measure equal to my science and engineering courses, though different in content. All helped prepare me in some way for what I would do later, even if it was just by being able to formulate complex ideas and put them in writing (I know, that's a lost art these days!). None were trivial in their academic expectations. The moral of my story is, individuals who enroll in liberal arts degree programs, especially the pointy heads who sign up for the AfAm or Gender studies degree programs (or other highly-liberalized arts programs) should be challenged to be well-rounded by taking more than just a minimum of basic math and science courses to get their degrees. Their degree program requirements are loaded up on the intellectually-interesting content, but are often lacking in the content that is practical and useful in everyday life. At the very least, they should be required to take multiple levels of sciences, accounting, business management, and other courses that teach logical thinking and some kind of real-life skill, so that they can at least balance their own checkbooks when they get out and start waiting tables. That would be a stark improvement. ______________ BL: VERY Well-said !!! And pretty much sums up the POV of me and the like-minds with whom I hang out. Give me a room-full of TRUE "Renaissance Men (and women)" and I'll never be bored. Again.... WELL SAID! .
	1/31/2013 11:50:51 AM

	GatewayArchie
	This is what Big-Lib Education never understands. When you take the piper's money, you dance to the piper's tune. Back before state legislatures spent millions of dollars on higher education, and the federal government added billions for loans and grants, the cute notion of "knowledge for knowledge's sake" was fine, since it wasn’t so much of Joe Sixpack’s tax bucks underwriting the tab. But then universities started raising tuition just a little bit faster than the Feds would raise loan limits, and justifying their “mission” as an “investment” in order to swindle tax dollars out of timid state politicians and now you have the higher-education-as-trade-school mentality coming home to roost. Well, let’s see some return on our investment! As a lawyer, I can tell you the only thing the vast majority of undergraduate degrees qualify one for is three years of law school. That is, learning a trade. I found it ironic that this column on the Education Scam was posted immediately after the column on the Economic Impact Scam! ____________ AP: If its not one form of "scam the public" it's another. It never ends. .
	1/30/2013 4:40:17 PM

	cooldela
	Those poor darlings over there at UNC. Gov. Pat must be careful when dealing with the elite. Can you even mention UNC outside a debutante ball? But it is just crazy. I mean, after all Gov. Dumplin' "saved education" when she went flying all over the state to those rallies where the teachers were forced to attend. And now the Old Well will become the scene of a fracking operation. __________ AP: Wanna bet they are already organizing candlelight vigils on the steps of The Library? As I stated.... PatMc hasn't made any enemies he did not already have. .
	1/30/2013 10:16:22 AM

	Old MacDonald
	"Just none that require a BA or Master's in English Literature." I have a BA in English Literature and have found myself very marketable -- because so few people can write well (or even write at all) these days. So there. ___________ AP: I'm certain PatMc was not condemning all "liberal arts" learning. I personally LOVE "learning for the sake of learning". I am quite the Renaissance AgentPierce!! But rather he is referring to a "nothing BUT navel-gazing" education. .
	1/30/2013 9:54:05 AM

	NCSU68Grad
	AP: I know that you are an educated person. I also know that you write stuff to provoke thought and also to provide a little humor and that is also what you enjoy doing. This subject, as of 9:30 AM has resulted in well over 100 comments on the N&O and 350 on WRAL. I noticed that Binky was the co-reporter on the WRAL article, so I did not even read it....just sampled the comments and looked at the numbers. Recently the Triangle Business Journal published an article on the costs per degree granted, the number of degrees, and the 5 year percentage change in both for the Consolidated University system. NC School of the Arts was the highest, but it was within a few schillings of UNC-CH. UNC-CH's cost per degree is well over $115K. That is 73% HIGHER than the average of $66K. NCSU is around $59K or 11% below. I put that in a comment and got bashed by some UNC supporters that called it baloney and cited several web sites, which could not be pulled up. I went out to the UNC site and found their budget. Did the same at NCSU. Their budget formats are the SAME....they have the SAME categories. The basics are not that far off, but UNC does pay their profs a lot more when you look at it on a degree basis. There was one category, "enterprise opportunity" that I could not get a handle on. UNC's was 25% of their budget and NCSU's was 10%. SO, UNC was spending 2.5 times MORE in this area. That is pretty amazing. When you factor in that NCSU has about 10% MORE grads, the cost per degree really get skewed. Maybe, since you know some folks over there or perhaps my Wuffie buddies can shed some light on this. If you go to the 2012 UNC Financial Report - look on page 29 and there is the little bugger.... One funny of the day, at least to a Wuffie is someone took my EELS (Enlightened Elitist Liberal Syndrome) and added an "H". Had to work on his wording, but now since Dr. Ross has fired his missles at the Gov, he does qualify for the HEELS Unlimited Award. HEELS now is defined as Hyper Enlightened Elitist Liberal Syndrome..... You gotta love it.....in all seriousness....if such exists, I would LOVE to know what Auxillary Enterprise Opportunities stands for.... _____________ AP: I figured both cyber insane asylums would be en fuego over this. Tell my ol buddy "Moz" that AP says Hi (and refer him to this column, please!). The N&O and WRAL's bone-deep hatred for PatMc & Friends might even drive Dan Kane to write a pro-UNC column on this. Ya reckon? .
	1/30/2013 9:53:38 AM

	TarSpartan
	Re: Blame it on Rush and FoxNews I think you're on to something there! After all, Rush Limbaugh lives in Florida. Marvin Austin's infamous tweet heard 'round the world was from Florida. Rush must have flown Marvin down in an attempt to sully the good re*****tion of the University. ;) ____________ AP: Ya never know ..... .
	1/30/2013 9:25:09 AM

	JDanWuff
	While I hate to disagree with another wolf, there is very little "non-educational" about the current legislature. Expecting state supported schools to prepare its students, our children, with a viable skill set to provide self-sufficiency and allows them to compete in regional and global markets is not too much to ask for our tax dollars. There are numerous and plenty private institutions of higher learning that can provide all of the liberal arts educations money can buy. Every Spring and every Winter, our HR department is flooded with resumes from recent grads holding BA's that are of no value to the technical world in which I am employed. We get bombarded with these resumes because the holders have seen through want ads and employment agencies that we have jobs available. Just none that require a BA or Master's in English Literature. ___________ AP: A "real world" analysis. Thank you sir. :-) .
	1/29/2013 8:33:17 PM

	PTops
	Ya think this tightened some tighty whities over in the Hill? __________ AP: Ya think !!! I think. .
	1/29/2013 8:09:02 PM

	58 Wolf Kennel
	As King Agrippa said "You almost had me convinced, AP (Apostle Paul)." However my fear is the Gov and the non-education legislature may be anxious to hurt all education using UNC-CH as an excuse. That was my "documented" concern two years ago, and it's playing out now. Hope not, but fear so. ___________ AP: "anxious to hurt all education" is an absurd phrase but I'm sure you believe it. Yee HAA for you. "Non-education" is your opinion WK. "Non-ideological indoctrination" is our preferred term. Tomato - tomaato. Regardless your NCSU Engineers have nothing to fear from Pat Mc, eeeevil Art, and the other Repub legislators. .
	1/29/2013 7:56:08 PM

	DanDownEast
	The hits just keep coming for those folks in Chapel Hill. Other than Gio's Punt Return it's been a rough coupla years for them. ____________ AP: Indeed it has been. Blame it on Rush and FoxNews.... .
	1/29/2013 6:58:08 PM