Winds of change in higher education

By Tom Campbell. Senate suggestions that now might be a good time to consider the elimination or consolidation of one or more of the UNC 16-campus system drew immediate and passionate opposition, some calling it a war on public universities. William Link, in his biography of Bill Friday, reminds us the current UNC System was born in controversy. Winds of change in higher education started in the late 1950s. The 1931, three-campus structure gave way to six campuses in the early 1960s, then ultimately the approval of the current 16-campus system in 1971. In the intervening years North Carolina saw education wars never before experienced: regional jealousies, gubernatorial and legislative intervention, parochialism from existing schools, political infighting and governance struggles abounded. If this wasn’t warfare the differences were largely semantic. Read more...