By Joseph Abraham, Editor-in-Chief

Published in print on Jan.28, 2015

On Friday, Jan.16, I was at the office when I read that Tom Ross would no longer be the UNC system president effective January 2016.

At first I thought he was planning to retire. However, it was quickly reported that he was being forced out.

It was reported in the News and Record that Ross is not being replaced because of his age or job performance.

Usually when someone is forced out, it is because of burned bridges, but giving Ross a $300,000 paid sabbatical in 2016, as well as a job as a professor at UNC-Chapel Hill in 2017 doesn’t seem like bad blood.

The only reason why the N.C. General Assembly made this decision is politics.

It’s reality’s game of Battleship: two parties try to sink one another’s ship and claim territory.

In the case of Ross, the General Assembly’s Republican majority wants to claim the territory that is the UNC board of governors. Ross, a registered democrat, likely has many differing ideologies from those who run this state.

The decision to remove Ross has come as a shock to many faculty members in the UNC system.

Steve Leonard, chair of the UNC system faculty assembly and a UNC political science professor, sent a letter to his fellow assembly members. The letter reflects his disappointment about the board’s decision.

“It was my sincere hope that the contract between President Ross and the board might be mitigated, or even reversed,” Leonard said. “We thought there were real openings and possibilities.” He continued, saying, “Last night, however, this hope was dashed when I was told the faculty should now assume that public higher education in the State of North Carolina is under full assault, and that the legacy of magnanimity that informed the actions of the board of governors for the better part of a half-century has ended.”

The point about public higher education in North Carolina being under attack was certainly inspired by the decision to remove Ross.

Despite the General Assembly consistently slashing funds from public higher education in this state, Ross continued to try and fight for more money for the UNC system. The effort to get more funding failed, but as a student in this system who has seen the detrimental effects of financial troubles in the classrooms, I appreciated him fighting for us.

So what does this mean for the future of public higher education in the State of North Carolina? Maybe this statement is extreme, but I view the future of education in this state like a desolate wasteland.

One thing our country prides itself on is a system of checks and balances, because we know that when one group with one set of principles and ideologies takes over, bad things happen. And this is exactly what is happening in North Carolina.

The General Assembly already has a Republican majority, and most members of the UNC board of governors are Republicans as well.

Without a UNC president who has a different belief system, the Republican Party will have total control of public higher education in the State of North Carolina.

I have nothing personal against the Republican Party as they have some good ideas, but their vision of education is flawed.

Most likely, the General Assembly will put someone with the Republican belief system in charge of the UNC system.

So, what happens when the person in charge agrees with the General Assembly’s vision in its entirety?

More funding will be cut, and the new leader will continue to encourage this state’s universities to raise tuition to get the funding they need rather than fight for the General Assembly to provide the resources necessary to keep public higher education affordable.

If this happens, I see morale among the UNC system faculty dropping and enrollment numbers dropping, as well as less students being able to go to college because they simply will be unable to afford it.

While I am usually an optimist, I see no reason to be optimistic about the future of public higher education in North Carolina. The General Assembly has given students and faculty in the UNC system no reason to have faith in it.