Turning our backs on the People of the State

Cross-post from UNCG Campus Watch

The Constitution of the State of North Carolina guarantees the General Assembly will provide that "the benefits of The University of North Carolina... as far as practicable, be extended to the people of the State free of expense" (Article IX, Sec 9). With the counting of out-of-state athletes as in-state students, the General Assembly is starting to turn its back on the very people for whom the University was originally established in 1789.

Back in December 2006, I originally wrote about the issue of out-of-state athletes receiving in-state status on mine and Ryan's old blog project. The issue has crept back up again, as I saw in an editorial from the Winston-Salem Journal this morning. A search on Google News also yielded another editorial from the Wilmington Star. I also found a similar editorial from the Asheville Citizen-Times, via the website of the UNC System's Association of Student Governments (UNCASG). A letter to the editor of the Raleigh News & Observer, also from the UNCASG website, shares some of the same feelings espoused in the editorials.

For those of you who are unaware of the circumstances here, let me fill you in: Last year, the General Assembly of the State of North Carolina decided it would be a good idea to provide in-state status to out-of-state students coming to UNC System schools to perform in our athletic programs. The change in law and procedure also provided for athletic scholarships, a move that will cost the taxpayers, the People of the State, $3.4 million or more each year.

According to the Winston-Salem Journal editorial, the total cost to the People of the State will peak at about $20 million annually over the next several years, due to the scholarships' phase-in implementation. The Journal staff goes on to correctly and honestly point out: "That will be $20 million less each year that the state can spend on public-school children or for North Carolina students who attend UNC schools."

Although the UNC System Board of Governors opposed the change, the General Assembly went ahead with their plan to stiff the People (as well as the children and youth) of our State.

A large push for the change in law came from a political action committee (PAC) largely associated with the UNC System's larger, more well-known (and financially stable) institutions of higher education: Our first UNC campus - UNC-Chapel Hill - and our second campus - NC State. The PAC, known as the Citizens for Higher Education PAC, has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on North Carolina legislators pushing hard for the change in out-of-state status for out-of-state students performing in athletic programs.

These athletic boosters (the largest make-up of the "Citizens for Higher Education" PAC) claim that this money and scholarship program is needed to keep our UNC campuses competitive on the playing fields.

All of the editorials, as well as the letter to the editor, I mentioned are brave, honest and sane enough to admit the ridiculous-ness of this move.

The University of North Carolina is a public institution whose establishment and continuance is guaranteed by the Constitution of the State. The Constitution also guarantees that education in North Carolina for North Carolinians is not only a privilege, but also a right.

The $20 million per year which will be used to pay for out-of-state students would be better used to help poor and less advantaged North Carolinians gain access to the benefits of The University of North Carolina. After all, the Constitution does say that the General Assembly will provide these benefits to the People - meaning the citizens of the State of North Carolina.

North Carolinians should not be shelling out millions upon millions of taxpayer monies to provide for the education of out-of-state students (read: NOT the People of THIS State).

The General Assembly needs to re-think what they have done and re-think where their priorities stand. If Speaker Black (who received almost $35,000 from that PAC) and other legislators refuse to re-think their decisions and continue to side with rich, athletic boosters with loyalties only to Chapel Hill and State, then the rest of us (you know... The People, as well as the students) might have to re-think our support for your campaigns and election.

The General Assembly has evidently lost their focus on upholding the principles which have made North Carolina great, including the principle that this State will provide for the education of its citizens.

They've turned their backs on the People. Maybe it is time the People turn their backs on them.

This post is cross-posted from its original location at UNCG Campus Watch and was written by me. UNCG Campus Watch is a new blog project aimed at keeping tabs on the UNCG's Student Government, campus news and opinions, as well as larger, state-wide actions which affect the students of The University of North Carolina. Learn more at http://uncgcampuswatch.blogspot.com