Maggie Young
   News Editor

Margaret Spellings officially started as UNC System president just over two weeks ago on  March 1. Her arrival has been celebrated by some and disputed by many.

On her first day as president, North Carolina students held a statewide walkout to protest her arrival. Multiple campuses got involved with the walkout including UNC-Greensboro, Appalachian State, UNC-Chapel Hill and North Carolina A&T.

UNCG students gathered in front the Elliott University Center to voice their concerns and march in an effort to make the protest seen and heard.

Many students discussed their fears for North Carolina’s Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) due to decline in enrollment and the number of lower-income students who default on their loans after graduation.

Spellings’ record of working as the advisory board chair since 2014 for Ceannate fuels the fire of fear for low-income students attending the under-funded HBCUs.

Ceannate is privately-owned and works with subsidiaries that help lower the percentage of students who default on their loans after attending certain universities and colleges.

Universities where more than 30 percent of its graduates defaulting on their loans are not permitted to receive federal funding — the majority of universities affected by a large percentage of defaulting students are for-profit.

Companies like Ceannate send their subsidiaries to work with universities to contact defaulting students and often persuade students to defer their loans. This leads to an increase in interest to be paid and, in the long run, hurts the student but helps the university.

Spellings has also worked on the board of the Apollo Group, the parent company to the University of Phoenix — a for-profit university.

Spellings told the Board that she worked with the companies “because [she] learned a lot about how [to] serve our students and think of them as customers in providing a product in convenient ways for them.”

Her continued referral to students as customers also frustrates students, making them fear that she is not putting student interests at the forefront.

UNCG graduate, Zachary Easterling attended the walkout and spoke with The Carolinian.

“[Spellings] uses language and expresses ideology that makes us fearful that she’s going to turn the UNC-System into more of a business with the students as the ‘customers,’” Easterling said.

He went on to say that many were present to demand “the removal of Margaret Spellings” and a “more open process in finding a new president.”

Several students attended the protest because of Spellings’ vague view on the LGBT community.

“Any sort of leadership that imposes sexual discrimination is not going to be beneficial towards having more safe-space universities,” Freshman Theater and Women and Gender Studies double-major Annie Conolly said. “We have an amazing school system; we have amazing universities. We need to move forward not back.”

Some faculty members were present who disagreed with the appointment of Spellings and her background.

Jim Carmichael, UNCG professor of Library and Information Studies of 28 years, told The Carolinian that he was present was because “[he] wants to see democratic processes reinstated at the Board of Governors.”

He went on to express his disenchantment with the current state of affairs saying that he “believe[s] there are severe problems in state and national government at this time.”

He also stated that he is a “LGBTQ faculty member, and [he] is very aware of what’s at stake.”

In an effort to connect with the myriad of protestors and catch everyone up to speed, Femi Shittu, UNCG graduate, read an email Spellings sent out to UNCG, and presumably to many other campuses, early on the morning of March 1.

The email discussed the president’s plans for a productive and cooperative term, and in some cases, attempted to address questions about or arguments against her appointment.

In the email Spellings noted that North Carolina must “[lead] the nation in securing an affordable education for all qualified students.”

Last year the Board of Governors approved a tuition increase of 4.3 percent for the 2015-2016 academic year and a 3.7 percent increase for the 2016-2017 year.

Later in the email, Spellings stated that higher education is “the new civil right.” She expressed her desire to make public higher education more accessible.

“Our public universities have an economic and a civic imperative to help many more people — particularly people of color and those from first-generation and low-income families…”

North Carolina’s HBCUs have seen some of the largest declines in enrollment over the past several years with Elizabeth City State University enrollment dropping 27 percent in 2010 — the largest decline of any NC higher ed  institution.

Between 2010 and 2013, enrollment at Shaw University decreased by 24 percent, the second steepest decline. HBCU total enrollment has dropped 7 percent since 2010.

The sharp decline in enrollment has led to drastic financial cuts at HBCUs across the state.

Students in attendance called the email contradictory, as the statements Spellings made and the realities for many did not match up.

If her views on non-heterosexual couples has changed since 2004, students are not letting her off so easy as accepting an email calling for inclusion.

Spellings wrote that universities must be welcome for “students and faculty of all races, religions, ethnicities, sexual orientations, and gender identities…,” however, students continue to widely protest Spellings’ controversial comments about the LGBT community. In the last lines of her email, Spellings made an attempt to comfort students and faculty by stating that “[she] will ensure that we are transparent about what we are doing well and where we have room to improve–” perhaps a direct attempt to calm to voices of those protesting the lack of transparency in the Board.

With efforts being made to squelch protests, students have become more wary of how their right to free speech plays into the politics of the Board.   

Spellings ended email by writing about her commitment to the UNC-System and her optimism for increased collaboration in important discussions.

“I am dedicated to facilitating inclusive conversations that enable us to better serve you, and I encourage you to raise your voices and join the discussion,” Spellings wrote.

After airing grievances and discussing the email, the protest took to the streets where students marched down Spring Garden street, taking up the right lane of traffic.

Students could be heard chanting things such as, “Spellings walks in, students walk out,” “Hey hey, ho ho, Margaret Spellings has got to go” and “If we don’t get it, shut it down.”

Eventually students gathered in front of the UNCG Auditorium (formerly Aycock Auditorium) where they chanted, sang and further voiced their grievances against Spellings.

Since the walkout, not many protests have occurred. UNCG senior, Jessica Matthis, told The Carolinian that if the ultimate goal is acknowledgement from the Board, then “students will need to continue to publicly voice their opposition, or their frustration will go unnoticed.”