As free as the right-wing bosses will allow

Article IX, Section 9 of the North Carolina Constitution says the following:  

“The General Assembly shall provide that the benefits of The University of North Carolina and other public institutions of higher education, as far as practicable, be extended to the people of the State free of expense.”

Unfortunately, as this op-ed in today’s Raleigh News & Observer helps make plain, the requirement is quickly ceasing to have any real meaning as right-wing money bags like Board of Governors member Fred “Right Change” Eshelman do their worst to privatize higher education. 

As the piece notes:

“Eshelman is essentially transferring a radical political ideology directly into the governing board of the university. That, of course, was what his appointment was intended to do.”

Let’s hope North Carolinians wake up to this effort to drag down our universities before there’s nothing left to save.