UNC-CH Continues to Provide Fodder

The dust-up over a proposed Western Civilization program at UNC-Chapel Hill, funded by the John William Pope Foundation, has gotten the attention of the Chattanooga Times Free Press. A reporter tapped Jon Sanders for information and, on Tuesday, the paper ran an editorial on the issue. It ends with this comment about those who are opposed to the curriculum: “It’s a shame they do not realize that they can express such ignorant views so casually because of the legacy of freedom that Western civilization has bequeathed them.” JLF friend and Duke University Professor John Staddon wrote his opinion recently in a letter to the editor of the Durham Herald-Sun. He questioned a UNC-CH administrator’s touchy-feely statement of concern about the feelings of their faculty. “So, when any faculty member is criticized, the university is supposed to weigh in with chicken soup and comforting words; and if a faculty member feels strongly enough about something (no matter how bad the arguments), the administration will pay attention,” Staddon wrote. Meantime, Sanders’ commentary on the “top 10 nuttiest events in N.C. Higher Education in 2004” was published on Campus Reports Online, a site which documents political bias in education. Among Sanders’ lowlights of the year: the N.C. School of the Arts financial scandal and UNC-CH’s “derecognition” of a Christian fraternity.