N.C. State’s new idea of diversity: a ‘conflict of ideas’
The diversity that N.C. State’s Rupert Nacoste seeks is one that understands that a university is a place for the conflict of ideas.
The diversity that N.C. State’s Rupert Nacoste seeks is one that understands that a university is a place for the conflict of ideas.
A columnist for the Technician, N.C. State University’s official student newspaper, has ignited a controversy on that campus with his charge that the English Department is an “instrument…to convert the ideas and opinions of the student body to the conformist views of feminism.” Ryan Galligan, a fifth-year student and former “P.C. tool,” wrote in his Oct. 12 column that N.C. State English faculty use “subjective grading [as] a convenient power tool” against students, who are “academically bullied to cherish feminism.” He specifically mentioned English 111 and 112, the freshmen composition courses all freshmen are required to take.
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill pays professors the fifth-highest average salary among public universities of its kind, a study by the Pope Center for Higher Education Policy has found. The other Research I institution in North Carolina, North Carolina State University, also pays its professors well comparatively, with an average salary greater than the nationwide average for public Research I institutions. The study examined 56 Research I institutions’ salaries adjusted for the cost of living at each institution’s location.
An Alcohol Task Force at N.C. State University is sending a recommendation to Chancellor Marye Anne Fox that would have university officials notify the parents of students who commit two alcohol violations. The task force making that recommendation comprises students, faculty and staff.
The Faculty Senate of the University of Wisconsin at Madison voted Monday to narrow an 18-year old speech code that permits the punishment of professors for remarks that students find offensive. The new code, which was approved by a vote of 71 to 62, says that “all expressions germane to the instructional setting — including but not limited to information, the presentation or advocacy of ideas, assignment of course materials, and teaching techniques — is protected from disciplinary action.”
AND
Students in some N.C. State University courses are doing their homework and even taking quizzes on the World-Wide Web, thanks to a program designed primarily by N.C. State professors. The program, WebAssign, is used in physics, math, computer-science and statistics courses at N.C. State, provides instant feedback to students as they submit their homework and quiz answers online.
The following is how the Diversity Initiative’s executive summary read as of March 1998.
A university proposes radically restructuring education as a symbolic gesture.