Chapel Hill Review

The University of North Carolina is seeing some disturbing developments, which Shannon Watkins of the Martin Center, writes about in a July 6 column published in the Locker Room blog.  

"When the University of North Carolina leadership and the state’s legislators capitulated to the frenzied mob that toppled a statue of a Confederate Army soldier at the entrance to the UNC-Chapel Campus in 2018, they likely thought they were putting an unpleasant issue to rest," Watkins wrote in her column. "After all, the continual protests, riots, and confrontations over Silent Sam were disruptive and bad publicity; maybe if we give the angry people what they want, they’ll calm down, the leadership seemed to be saying."

But giving in often means the problem is just beginning and the University of North Carolina's administration will be dismantling itself as a "place of truth," Watkins wrote in her column. 

The University of North Carolina Chapel Hill administration of Chancellor Kevin Guskiewicz "[threatened] the spirit of free inquiry," which aligned the school with radical elements, Watkins wrote in her column. 

"In a June 11 email signed by Guskiewicz, provost Robert Blouin and interim chief 'diversity officer' Sibby Anderson-Thompkins, the UNC leaders decried 'structural racism' and commented that 'painful issues surrounding race and racism continue to plague our country and our University.' They added that 'we have much work to do,'" Watkins wrote in her column. "Although they fail to point to any concrete examples of how racism continues to 'plague' the university, they nevertheless are eager to signal that they and UNC have the 'correct' views on the present controversies."