TO THE EDITOR:
Monday afternoon over at the Friday Center was the Phi Beta Kappa induction ceremony, one of the most prestigious and time honored academic achievements in the country, let alone at UNC.
There were more than 100 UNC students (including myself) along with friends and family members in attendance for what would be a 45-50 minute ceremony congratulating us on our academic achievements and inducting us into the UNC chapter of Phi Beta Kappa.
Chancellor Carol Folt was unfortunately not in attendance, and neither were any of the senior administrative staff at UNC.
Although I cannot speak on behalf of other students or their family members, I noticed the absence of the Chancellor and all of her staff, and it left me disappointed.
What really bothered me though was that, upon returning from the Phi Beta Kappa ceremony, I came to find out that Chancellor Folt was in attendance at Rammy’s (her Twitter account can verify this).
Now maybe its just me, but I seem to recall numerous press releases, videos, emails in which Chancellor Folt has sought to reaffirm her stance on the value of academics at UNC and how they do not play second fiddle to athletics.
With that in mind, how can I view the actions of Chancellor Folt tonight as being anything other than contradictory and hypocritical?
She says athletics are not more important than academics, but she declines to be present and show her support at the induction ceremony for the oldest academic honors program in the country and then less than three hours later is at the athletic department awards ceremony.
