Hundreds Of Professors Attack Proposal To Require U.S. Constitution Class: ‘Ideological Force-Feeding’

UNC Professors Oppose Bill Requiring U.S. Constitution Course

Over 670 professors at the University of North Carolina (UNC) have signed a letter opposing a bill in the state legislature that would mandate students to take a course on the U.S. Constitution and other key American documents before graduation. The letter, published in The Daily Tar Heel, calls the proposed bills and other efforts by the Board of Governors and Board of Trustees an attack on academic freedom and shared governance.

Eliminating Tenure and Requiring American History Course

One of the bills, House Bill 715, would eliminate tenure at UNC and replace it with a contract system of one to four-year contracts. The second bill would require all college students to take an American history course before graduation, which includes reading the U.S. Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, the Emancipation Proclamation, at least five essays from the Federalist Papers, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s Letter from Birmingham Jail, and the Gettysburg Address.

The UNC professors argue that the bill would prescribe what is taught in the course and determine much of the content and weight of its final exam, violating core principles of academic freedom. They also take issue with the Board of Governors’ “ongoing assault on diversity, equity and inclusion efforts at UNC schools” and the Board of Trustees’ proposed School of Civic Life and Leadership, which they say violates the established principle that faculty, not politicians, are responsible for a college’s curriculum.

Protecting Academic Freedom and Shared Governance

The professors believe that the bills and initiatives are an attack on their expertise and disregard campus autonomy. They argue that academic freedom and shared governance have long made UNC a leader in public education and must be protected.

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UNC Trustees Chair Dave Boliek defends the new School of Civic Life and Leadership as a way to teach students to recognize members of political outgroups as friends to learn from rather than foes to vanquish. He believes that the initiative is about balance and providing equal opportunity for both left-of-center progressive views and right-of-center views to be taught at the University.