A veteran professor enjoys Cameron craziness as much as any Blue Devils fan, but says big-time college sports dominate what are supposed to be nonprofit academic institutions. Even at Duke, which considers itself a shining star, there’s academic corner-cutting, rampant commercialization, and some unsettling racial dynamics.
Category: Higher Education
UNC’s Mild-Mannered Change Agent
After a quiet, decades-long rise to power, Peter Hans is atop the UNC System. He brings strong personal and political skills, but is short on executive experience. Can a great conciliator keep his restive factions at bay and shepherd the institution through its next big transformation?
Art, Power, and Profit at Duke University
Two longtime Duke faculty members are behind an anticipated $2 million in art sales that raise questions about the ethical use of public-domain images, power imbalances within academia, and a university’s thorny role as a gatekeeper of information and access.
The Archivist for the Lost Cause
J.G. de Roulhac Hamilton built UNC-Chapel Hill’s renowned Southern Historical Collection. He was also an apologist for the Ku Klux Klan and taught that Black people were inferior to whites. As the university debates removing the professor’s name from Hamilton Hall, his complicated legacy lives on in the archive.
The Struggle for Power at UNC
Nikole Hannah-Jones declined UNC-Chapel Hill’s offer of tenure, the result of a costly and drawn-out governance debate. At Carolina, the backlash is just beginning.
Holden Thorp’s Cautionary Tale
This wasn’t how things were supposed to go for Holden Thorp. He was the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s favorite son, the boy genius who’d fallen in love with the chemistry lab and followed that love all the way to the Ivy League, only to look homeward, still. He returned to Chapel Hill… Continue reading Holden Thorp’s Cautionary Tale
Reaction and Pushback on UNC’s Hussman Story
“From The Assembly’s Newsletter: Reaction and Pushback from Last Weekend’s Bombshell Story on Nikole Hannah-Jones and Walter Hussman Jr., a Statement from Dean King, and an Update on the Greensboro Hog-tying Story”
Nikole Hannah-Jones, a Mega-Donor, and the Future of Journalism
Emails obtained by The Assembly show that UNC-Chapel Hill’s largest journalism-school donor warned against Nikole Hannah-Jones’ hiring. Their divergent views represent a new front in the debate over objectivity and the future of the field.
The Ill-Fated Chancellor
In Cecil Staton’s three years as East Carolina University’s leader, football fans revolted, enrollment dropped, and an anonymous dossier questioned his hiring as “gross negligence.” What does his tenure say about ECU’s future?