No sale
Submitted by James on Sat, 10/01/2011 - 9:00am
Bob Orr withdraws offer to establish a Pope Foundation center at the NCCU School of Law in the wake of concerns over Art Pope's radical agenda. Here's the N&O version of the story.
Indy Week has a slightly different take, in which a Republican student at NCCU Law misses the point entirely.
"What bothers me is the message the firestorm has created, that if you're tied to a Republican, don’t come to Central," Doucette said. "But that's not what we're about."
Art Pope isn't "a Republican," Mr. Doucette. He is a one-man army engaged in class warfare. He is supporting legislative assaults on the very Constitution his Center proposed to study. His friends in the General Assembly are dismantling public education through draconian budget cuts. His scorched-earth approach to political reform will set North Carolina back for generations.
A prediction that didn't pan out
It would have been simple enough to give the School $600,000 to build its own constitutional law center, but not if your name is Art Pope. He tied the money to his personal agenda, putting the School of Law at reputational risk of being associated with the very worst of the right.
A philanthropist with strings isn't a philanthropist. A philanthropist with strings is a buyer.
Do good. Be nice. Have fun.
Here's the message it sends:
You can't have your cake and eat it, too.
You can't use your money to stack a school board with radicals, whose overriding goal is the resegregation of schools, and still be met with open arms by a predominantly black University.
For every action, there's an equal and opposite reaction. While the political realm doesn't always behave in a strictly scientific fashion, due to the vagaries of swaying public opinion, actions still carry consequences.
This is why we blog. This is why we chronicle the actions of people like Art Pope, to make sure their spin and propaganda don't give them the ability to act without fear of reaction.
He doesn't care
This just reinforces his fantasies that public education is a liberal conspiracy. If anything, this will cause him to redouble his efforts to control North Carolina.
It's really a sad state of affairs. Go to the Indy link and read Bob Orr's letter to the School. It's a pity party through and through, lamenting the fact the motives of Mr. Pope are misunderstood.
As I said above, it would have been easy as pie for Pope to fund a Center with no strings attached, with no assumption that Bob Orr would be the director, with zero influence on how the Center would operate. That would have been good old-fashioned philanthropy. Unfortunately, that's not what happened here. So after pushing a legislative agenda to cut higher education and public education, Mr. Pope will take his money and go home.
Do good. Be nice. Have fun.