Nonprofit, union groups help organize Spellings protests
Students and faculty have help in organizing protests against the UNC Board of Governors and the decision to hire Margaret Spellings as system president.
Posted — UpdatedOver the nearly five months since the Board of Governors tapped Spellings, a former education secretary for former President George W. Bush, there have been demonstrations on campuses throughout the UNC system and at the board's meetings. On Friday, March 4, a small group of both faculty and students were on hand to air their grievances as the Board of Governors met on the campus of Fayetteville State University.
"I'm concerned that there is talk of changing the name of our university to UNC at Fayetteville," Chez Rumpf, an assistant professor at the school told WRAL's Gilbert Baez Friday. "I'm worried that that's a blatant disregard for the mission of this university and the students that we currently serve."
Those who have turned out have all cited different reasons for protesting. Some have pointed to worries about under-funding for historically black colleges and universities, rising costs on all UNC campuses and Spellings' connections to the for-profit University of Phoenix and student loan collector Ceannate Corp. Others have cited her work on the federal No Child Left Behind Act, which emphasized standardized testing, or her perceived hostility to gay and lesbian students. Faculty members have also raised questions about "shared governance" and the lack of a voice in choosing Spellings and concerns she will view students more as "customers."
Whatever their concerns, two main groups have helped stitch together protestors across the 17-campus system. Along with Ignite NC, Faculty Forward, an offshoot of the Service Employees International Union, has provided the underpinning for the protests.
Meanwhile, the Faculty Forward Network, a 501(c)(3) that describes itself as "an activist faculty organization that improves faculty working conditions," has been involved in many of the protests at Board of Governors meetings. Its members are drawn from several different campuses. Four of its members were expelled after disrupting the December Board of Governor's meeting.
Members of Faculty Forward are often distinctive in bright orange shirts with the group's logo when they come to meetings. In Fayetteville, they made their presence known by standing quietly and holding small signs.
While faculty members have certainly played a part in the protests, they are often described as "student led," and Ignite NC has helped organize those student leaders.
Ajamu Billahunt, a political science and history major at North Carolina Central University, says Ignite NC has played a "vital role" in organizing the protests. He is one of three dozen fellows trained by the group to organize their peers on college campuses. The group has also trained poll workers to watch for what it views as voter suppression.
"They have provided us with resources, information and created spaces to engage in these kinds of conversations," he said, crediting the group with building connections between disparate campus communities.
According to its website, "Ignite NC is fiscally sponsored by Southern Vision Alliance, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization." Elena Everett, Southern Vision's director, is listed by Ignite NC as the group's operations director. Loan Tran is the communications director for both groups. Southern Vision provides "infrastructure and coaching for leadership development and base-building in communities that desire to create positive social change," according to its website.
"They are instrumental in organizing the campuses in the system," said Richard Lindayen, a junior at UNC-Chapel Hill who works with the UNC BOG Democracy Coalition, a student group on the Chapel Hill campus that has been around for 18 months. It initially formed to advocate for better access to Board of Governors meetings and was among those that raised concerns about the Board of Governors plans to close academic centers such as the poverty center once run by Gene Nichols at UNC-Chapel Hill.
"We will continue to protest until she leaves," Lindayen said.
There are similar organizations on other UNC campuses, he said, and Ignite NC has helped those groups network. For example, at the same time students were walking out at Chapel Hill, they were also leaving classrooms on five other campuses, including UNC-Charlotte, UNC-Wilmington, UNC-Greensboro, Appalachian State University and North Carolina A&T.
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