Articles

Articles

May 13, 2005 ·

How Much Does a State University Have to Cost?

Every state has a state university system, although that was not always the case. (New York didn’t begin the SUNY system until after World War II, a fact that did not impede the state’s growth and prosperity.) Looking at the financing of those university systems, however, you find great differences in the degree to which they depend on government appropriations. Some states rely heavily on state funding, whereas others have chosen to constrict the money pipeline from the state capital to the universities and depend more on voluntary support.

I was interested in knowing just where North Carolina stands, so the Pope Center did an analysis of the financial data for each state found in the 2004 Almanac Issue of The Chronicle of Higher Education.

May 11, 2005 ·

Restoring Free Speech and Liberty on Campus

Independent Institute and Cambridge University Press, 2005, 279 pp., $28.99 American colleges and universities are hothouses of hypocrisy and the principal exhibit is the fact that while their spokesmen talk…

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Free Speech on College Campuses

American colleges and universities are hothouses of hypocrisy and the principal exhibit is the fact that while their spokesmen talk endlessly about their commitment to openness, tolerance, critical thinking, diversity,…

May 6, 2005 ·

State, UNC, ECU purchase expensive furniture from out-of-state maker

RALEIGH – North Carolina has often been considered as the furniture capital of the world, with distinctive markets in Hickory, High Point, and Thomasville filled with a multitude of furniture factories and stores. It’s a typical sight to see consumers drive hours to those communities to purchase factory-direct furniture at relatively low prices.

Consumers are looking for the best value for their money. The same cannot be said of state university personnel who chose to spend taxpayer money on custom made furniture instead of opting to save taxpayer money on commercial furniture.

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Town Hall meeting hears thoughts on search for UNC president

CHAPEL HILL – A town hall meeting Thursday afternoon at UNC-Chapel Hill provided a short glimpse into the mindset of a search committee commissioned to find a new president for the UNC system. The current president, Molly C. Broad, announced her retirement last month, effective at the end of the 2005-06 academic year.

During the one hour meeting, several people spoke about their desires for a new president – a strong leader who knows North Carolina was the most prominent of the wishes – and what they would like to see the committee do. At the end of the meeting, the only thing guaranteed was that the committee would be very deliberate in the coming weeks and months in selecting Molly Broad’s successor.

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Crying wolf on higher education

In a May 1 column in The Oklahoman, University of Oklahoma president David Boren sent up a loud cry of “Wolf!” over the prospect that Oklahoma may do what quite a few other states are doing – shifting some of the burden of paying for the state university system from the taxpayers to students and other parties who are willing to donate money. Mr. Boren finds this “alarming” because it “threatens to close the door of opportunity.”

May 5, 2005 ·

Budget includes several wasteful programs

RALEIGH – Most the discussion regarding the state Senate’s budget proposal for higher education has focused on plans to allow UNC-Chapel Hill and N.C. State University more autonomy to set tuition. Other proposals are worthy of controversy, too, however, because they are simply a waste of taxpayer money.

In all, the Senate budget proposed a budget of $2.07 billion in 2006 and $2.1 billion in 2007 for the UNC system. Of that N.C. State would receive $298 million for academic affairs in 2006, while UNC-Chapel Hill would receive $212 million. Only the Department of Public Instruction ($6.69 billion) and the Department of Health and Human Services ($3.96 billion) have a larger proposed appropriation than the UNC system.

Apr 29, 2005 ·

Paul Krugman’s Fallacious Academic Question

Paul Krugman is a columnist who never passes up an opportunity to throw jabs at those Americans whom he dislikes, a set that comprises anyone who doesn’t accept his big-government philosophy. All the jabbing would be fine if Krugman limited himself to serious arguments, but serious arguments might be too boring for his New York Times editors, so he often resorts to cheap shots and fallacious reasoning. His April 5, 2005 column “An Academic Question” is a case in point. (Site requires registration.)