Political Reality on North Carolina Campuses: Examining Policy Debates and Forums with Diverse Viewpoints

Everywhere in higher education, there is a rhetorical affirmation of the values of free speech and the development of informed citizens. North Carolina's state motto in Latin is Esse Quam Videri, which translates to "To Be Rather Than to Seem." So it is reasonable to research what kind of speech actually exists on North Carolina campuses, particularly about public policy issues. This research examines the 2018 and 2019 online calendars for 37 four-year North Carolina campuses to record all their multi-speaker policy events. These events were then classified as debates or forums in 24 different policy areas. Because some calendars were incomplete or difficult to interpret, follow-up emails were sent to campus reference librarians, archivists, and chief academic officers to try to assure accuracy. Survey after survey shows that faculty are increasingly one-sided in their political identifications, that many students are fearful of expressing their policy opinions, and that an activist minority is willing to shut down speech it opposes. In this environment, public policy debates were almost entirely absent on North Carolina campuses and where policy-related forums were present, there seems to be no consistent effort to invite panelists with different viewpoints. There are some exceptions, but most North Carolina campuses seem inhospitable locations for policy discourse open to all undergraduates. As concluded in this report, it does not seem likely on most campuses that the energy for creating frequent and responsible civil discourse about controversial public policy issues exists. That stimulus may have to come from legislators for public institutions and governing boards for both private and public campuses. As is often the case, that initiative may require some funding and regular reporting about campus policy events. [Funding for this report was provided by the John William Pope Foundation.]