WHAT IS CITIZENS FOR HIGHER EDUCATION?
Citizens for Higher Education works to build political support for the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the state’s other research universities. We aim to help the university:
- Address the challenge of competition for funds;
- Recruit and retain a world-class faculty;
- Attract the best and brightest students; and
- Enhance cutting-edge research that is critical to the state economy.
We are a political-action committee that backs state candidates who share our goals. We also take positions on issues to help the university. Our positions have always been consistent with those of the UNC-Chapel Hill Board of Trustees.
Members pay dues of $2,000 a year to help. We also welcome junior members at reduced rates: $1,000 a year for members age 30 to 39, and $500 a year for those under 30. To become a member, click here or call 919-510-9240. To sign up for e-mail updates, click here.
Public Policy Polling
News Release
May 21, 2013 55% of voters in the state think the legislature should do more for public universities, compared to 26% who think what they're doing is about right and 15% who think they should do less. 63% of voters think tuition is too high to only 4% who think it's too low and 28% who think it's about right. There is a bipartisan consensus among Democrats (68%), independents (59%), and Republicans (58%) that tuition is too high. Submitted by Site Admin on Tue, 2013-05-21 17:19.
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Winston-Salem Journal
Editorial
May 8, 2013 There’s a constituency in our society that laughs at the seemingly useless investigations conducted by Ivory-tower professors.... Had we heard of professor Ellie Fini’s work at N.C. A&T University before a recent report in the News & Record, we might have chuckled, too. Honestly, how crazy is it to think that pig waste, a byproduct of North Carolina’s enormous hog industry, could be used to pave roads? We expect that Dr. Fini and her associates will soon be laughing all the way to the bank. She may very well have found a more-than-suitable replacement for petroleum-based asphalt, the agent that holds crushed rock together to pave our roads. Submitted by Site Admin on Thu, 2013-05-09 11:18.
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The News & Observer
May 8, 2013
By Jane Stancill DURHAM — Billionaire David Murdock, the Dole Foods chairman whose vision and money turned an abandoned Kannapolis textile mill into a multimillion-dollar nutrition research campus, announced a donation of another $50 million in operating support for the venture. The 90-year-old tycoon has already invested $600 million in the research campus and $131 million into an institute that bears his name. The $50 million gift announced Wednesday will also go to the David H. Murdock Research Institute. Submitted by Site Admin on Thu, 2013-05-09 11:08.
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The Fayetteville Observer
Editorial
Sunday, April 21, 2013 This won't be known as education's glory era in North Carolina. Politics and economics have combined to hand daunting challenges to educators.... While the University of North Carolina system has absorbed nearly $400 million in budget cuts in the past two years, it has survived as one of this nation's leading public universities. The question is, how far can those cuts go before they inflict real damage? How many more teachers can we lose before achievement scores fall and dropouts accelerate? How long before our gem of a university system becomes second-rate? And how long before residents can no longer afford the college education that our state constitution says should "as far as practicable, be extended to the people of the State free of expense"? Submitted by Site Admin on Mon, 2013-04-22 19:59.
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The News & Observer
April 20, 2013
By Jane Stancill HANOVER, N.H. — Carol Folt, the scientist, has tackled some of the most tangled ecological problems on Earth. As a graduate student in California, her question was how to improve fisheries in Lake Tahoe. At Dartmouth, Folt spurred one of her students to do a 20-year study on the introduction of salmon in the Connecticut River. In the last 15 years, she has been focused on problems of metal toxicity in water – how mercury makes its way into fish and how rice absorbs arsenic – and the impact on human health. Submitted by Site Admin on Sun, 2013-04-21 14:50.
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The News & Observer
April 20, 2013
By John Drescher-- Executive Editor Tom Ross, now president of the 220,000-student UNC system, left a simpler life at Davidson in 2010 and stepped into a new era of public education. The UNC system has been the pride of North Carolina. While it didn’t get everything it wanted, the UNC system over the years generally has been well funded. But since 2008, when the recession kicked in, UNC’s budget has taken several hits. For the budget year that starts July 1, Gov. Pat McCrory has proposed a systemwide cut of $140 million, Ross told reporters this week. If the UNC budget is cut, that would buck a national trend. As state revenues have rebounded, 30 states are spending more on higher education this year, the Chronicle of Higher Education reports. North Carolina’s revenues are projected to grow 3.6 percent next budget year. Submitted by Site Admin on Sat, 2013-04-20 13:19.
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The News & Observer
April 20, 2013
By Montserrat Fuentes What do sports, hurricanes and elections have in common? They all use the power of statistics to help predict the seemingly unpredictable. From picking the most effective players in baseball to helping coastal residents prepare for storm seasons, statistics make a real difference in our daily lives. And the Triangle area is at the center of this statistical Renaissance. Submitted by Site Admin on Sat, 2013-04-20 13:13.
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By Gary D. Robertson
Associated Press
April 15, 2013 RALEIGH -- The head of North Carolina's public university system said Monday another year of deep budget cuts such as those recommended by Gov. Pat McCrory could erode the system's ability to provide quality education, and he wants some relief from the General Assembly. University of North Carolina system President Tom Ross said he's asked legislative budget writers to narrow the $143 million reduction for the coming year recommended by McCrory in his state budget proposal. The proposed cuts are on top of spending reductions approaching $400 million approved two years ago.... The UNC system receives about $2.6 billion of its roughly $9 billion budget directly from the state. "We've taken some pretty severe hits," Ross said. "Then you put these cuts which are substantial on top of that and I think it begins to create real fear that it's going to erode our ability to continue to provide quality education. The reductions likely would mean offering fewer courses and employing fewer faculty members, he added. Submitted by Site Admin on Tue, 2013-04-16 12:32.
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The Fayetteville Observer
Sunday, April 14, 2013
By Venita Jenkins UNC campuses have developed a set of goals that would determine how much additional funding the colleges would receive based on their performance. The UNC System plans to implement performance-based funding model this fall after working on the model for more than a year. Performance-based funding will not replace the current funding model, which is based on enrollment. Submitted by Site Admin on Mon, 2013-04-15 12:32.
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The News & Observer
April 12, 2013
Editorial The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill has had more than its share of things go wrong in recent years, so it’s refreshing to see the hiring of a new chancellor go so right. The selection of Carol Folt, the interim president of Dartmouth College, to succeed Chancellor Holden Thorp appears to be an inspired choice. We hope she brings the level of leadership that will also make it a bold one. Submitted by Site Admin on Sun, 2013-04-14 11:33.
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