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Earlier this year, leaders at UNC-Greensboro approved a recommendation to cut 20 programs, mostly in the College of Arts and Sciences. As many as 42 faculty members across those departments could be affected, and a number of degrees and departments are being eliminated entirely.
The cuts came after a so-called academic-portfolio review, through which schools essentially ask: What parts of a college make money, and which parts don’t?
In UNCG’s case, they called in the consulting firm rpk GROUP for an outside perspective and data expertise. Rpk and firms like it have built a lucrative business atop colleges’ inability—or unwillingness—to answer that question for themselves.
In partnership with The Chronicle of Higher Education, we dug deep on the cuts at UNCG, the consulting firms called in to help, and what they could mean for other schools.
‘Nobody Knows Where the Line Is’
When cost-cutting universities hire consultants, who’s really making the decisions? UNC-Greensboro offers a case study.
“We know your campuses will not be the only campuses we have this conversation with,” said Sonja Phillips Nichols, a member of UNC’s Board of Governors, after a July meeting where the cuts were officially approved. “Moving forward, we’re gonna have to do this on every single campus. I’m hoping everybody else is getting ready for this very hard, but very necessary, road that we need to travel.”
Have a news tip for our team? You can reach us at scoops@theassemblync.com.
A Surprise Guest
The president of the Raleigh-Apex branch of the NAACP explained about two hours into Saturday’s Freedom Fund Luncheon that an unlisted speaker would be addressing the crowd.
The attendees gathered in a modern, blue-lit room at the Embassy Suites near Crabtree Mall had already received two keynote speeches. In the first, Wake County schools Superintendent Robert Taylor stressed the imperative to diversify teachers. Then Irving Joyner, a legendary civil rights attorney, connected the theme of education and history: “Some people,” he quipped, “call it CRT.”
Mark Vasconcellos, the NAACP branch president, marveled after Joyner’s standing ovation that not long ago he was struggling to land any speaker at all for this event. His first choice, an Alabama-based tour operator famed for her portrayals of Rosa Parks, had a scheduling conflict. He invited several political candidates, but only one responded—then their campaign staffer failed to follow his instructions to email. He reached out to Taylor and Joyner, who agreed to come.
But then the campaign staffer continued to text him, he said, pushing for a speaking slot.
“They agreed to buy some tickets and put an ad [in the program], and I tell you for that amount of money I can do three minutes,” Vasconcellos told the crowd. He reminded them that the NAACP is a nonpartisan organization open to everyone, then invited the surprise speaker to the lectern: Michele Morrow, an anti-CRT crusader who is now the Republican candidate for superintendent of public instruction.
Morrow, perhaps best known for a May 2020 Tweet suggesting that former President Barack Obama should be executed on pay per view, introduced herself as a Christian wife, mother, and grandmother and emphasized her time as a missionary. She argued, from a number of angles, that North Carolina’s public schools were failing.
“You guys probably know this statistic, but the determination for what our criminal justice system and what size prisons we should be creating is based on the reading level at third grade and how many children are proficient,” Morrow said, garnering nods and a “yes” from the audience (though the claim is false).
In Wake County, she went on, the math and reading proficiency of Black and Hispanic students dropped 40 percent over the last 20 years. (No available data support the claim; over that time period, the state test has changed, making that type of comparison impossible.)
Morrow talked about drugs, anxiety, depression, and assaults on teachers. “Ask me anything,” she said in conclusion. Linda Suggs wanted to ask about solutions. She hadn’t heard Morrow propose any, she said.
“No, no, no, no, no, no,” Vasconcellos interrupted, walking quickly to the microphone. He turned to Morrow. “Thank you again for three minutes and the donation,” he said.
Morrow grabbed her purse and walked out the door, her associate pulling the candidate away from anyone who tried to ask questions.
The remaining attendees milled about, processing what had just happened.
“She ducked and dodged,” said Suggs.
Safiyah Jackson, the Democratic challenger to state Rep. Erin Paré in House District 37, had walked out of the luncheon when Morrow was called up.
“Given her previous comments about assassinating Barack Obama and being willing to pay for it on pay per view, being a part of the January 6 insurrection, and overall, being anti-public schools, I couldn’t in good will give any more minutes of my precious time,” she said. “I think the chapter has some things to reckon with, in that they elevated one white candidate when there were Black candidates in the room. And it is unfortunate that it was framed as giving money, so much money, allowed her to have time to speak, which is the disenfranchisement that happens.”
Several people asked Joyner if he’d known in advance that Morrow would be speaking. “No,” he said. “I was kind of dazed.”
He asked Vasconcellos to again explain how this had happened. Attendee Kelli Wilhelm, listening in, read between the lines: “We didn’t hear back from Mo Green,” Morrow’s opponent.
“Actually, I’ll just leave it at that,” Vasconcellos said. “I’ll just say Michele was the only one. And I have never met Michele. As a matter of fact, in an email I misspelled her name!”
“I think it was masterful to get her money and have her listen to this masterful orator,” said Wilhelm’s husband, Wayne, gesturing to Joyner. “He hit every point, every point,” he said. “Diversity, she hates. CRT, she rails against.”
Before she spoke, I approached Morrow. I had noticed that she was one of the only people who did not stand to applaud Joyner’s speech.
I asked what she thought of the remarks. “So far they’ve been great,” she said.
I asked what she thought of Joyner’s use of the term CRT. She looked at me quizzically.
“I understand the history,” she said. “I understand the validity of the history.”
—Carli Brosseau
You Won’t Want To Miss This
Labor Day marks the traditional sprint to Election Day. The conventions are behind us, ballots are being printed, and the start of early voting is quickly approaching.
Our reporting team is crisscrossing the state, gathering stories that we believe will be both revealing and engaging as you head to the polls. There are a lot of great stories in the pipeline, and trust us, you won’t want to miss them.
We’re offering a limited-time deal: Subscribe now for just $0.99 a month through the end of November, and you’ll have unlimited access to all of these stories and our entire archive. Just enter the code ASSEMBLY2024 when you check out. We hope you’ll join us!
What We’re Reading
Roll Call: WRAL reports that state and national Republican Party leaders have filed another lawsuit to try to remove 225,000 North Carolina voters from the rolls ahead of the election, claiming that they were allowed register without proving their identity.
Language Arts: Duke University is offering an online Cherokee language course, WUNC reports, the first of its kind at the school.
Nil for NIL: Greensboro football star Faizon Brandon is suing the State Board of Education over its ban of endorsement deals for high-school athletes, according to CBS Sports. The complaint states that the financial loss is “potentially millions of dollars that Brandon has no guarantee of ever recouping.”
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