Why criticize UNC supporters?

(The Charlotte Observer, May 10, 2007)

FEEDBACK

The work of Citizens for Higher Education helps all UNC campuses

From Paul Fulton, chairman of the executive committee of Citizens for Higher Education, based in Winston-Salem:

Sometimes folks in the press need to be reminded that the First Amendment doesn't apply just to them. The same First Amendment that guarantees freedom of the press guarantees others the rights to free speech -- which is how courts view campaign spending -- and to petition the government.

In a March 22 column, Observer Associate Editor Mary Schulken says a group of UNC-Chapel Hill supporters called Citizens for Higher Education is "throwing its money and weight around to get its way at the expense of the state's other campuses." On April 12, she asserts that "PACs aligned with individual campuses undermine North Carolina's system of higher education -- and work against the interests of the state's other universities."

Yet she cites no examples where Citizens for Higher Education has gotten its way at the expense of other state universities. Members of the group are indeed UNC-Chapel Hill supporters. We do back measures that benefit public higher education. But many of those measures don't benefit Chapel Hill alone:

• We're pushing for higher faculty salaries not just at Chapel Hill, but at all 16 UNC campuses.

• Like UNC President Erskine Bowles, we supported movement of university enrollment-growth projections into the state's continuation budget last year. This removed a $79 million chip from yearly budget negotiations, and it helps all campuses. In fact, because enrollment is limited at Chapel Hill, it helps smaller and historically black universities, which have higher costs per student, more than it does UNC-Chapel Hill.

• We worked last year to increase state tax deductions for donations to 529 college-savings plans -- which reward savings no matter where a student goes to school.

• The media criticize a policy that treats out-of-state scholarship winners as in-state students. But that policy makes scholarship dollars go farther and helps our state compete for talented students. There are eight more Morehead scholars this year because of it. Of 100 scholarships at Chapel Hill affected the first year, 61 are academic scholarships. Of the 39 athletic scholarships affected, 18 are for women. The policy also helps other campuses: In 2007-08, it will help provide 55 scholarships at Appalachian State, 60 at East Carolina, 50 at N.C. Central and 29 at N.C. A&T.

• We support a dental school at ECU, accompanied by expansion of UNC-Chapel Hill's dental school, to better serve needs statewide.

Our push for increased funding for higher education reduces pressure on tuition at all schools. Even with North Carolina's proud tradition of the public university, commitment to higher education can't be taken for granted. Though spending on universities has risen, it has declined from 17 percent to 12 percent of the state's general fund since 1985. State appropriations supplied just 22 percent of UNC-Chapel Hill's revenues in 2005-06.

So it's puzzling that critics single out Citizens for Higher Education among more than 500 registered PACs in North Carolina. Teachers, trial lawyers, police, business and labor all pool money for campaign contributions. That same First Amendment lets people who support any university organize similar efforts.

There's an important distinction between Citizens for Higher Education and many political groups: This group's members don't donate for personal gain. They give because they support their university and public higher education.

In a global economy where jobs increasingly require a college degree, that's critical. That's why Citizens for Higher Education backs candidates and policies that support public higher education.