The UNC Education Justice Alliance (the unnamed coalition mentioned in the article) is not the disjointed, directionless movement presented here. The coalition is unified in it’s opposition to Provost Carney’s massive tuition hike proposal and it’s belief that the administration should look to alternative funding sources to make up the $100 million budget shortfall imposed by the state legislature. As such, we will present an alternative budget proposal to the Board of Governors on December 9th.

Furthermore, the coalition is not composed solely of Students for a Democratic Society, the Campus Y and student government. Unaffiliated, concerned students form a large portion of the UNC Education Justice Alliance. Painting the coalition as nothing more than a task force composed of three major student organizations negates the contributions of unaffiliated students, and effectively erases them from the conversation.

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The UNC Education Justice Alliance (the unnamed coalition mentioned in the article) is not the disjointed, directionless movement presented here. The coalition is unified in it’s opposition to Provost Carney’s massive tuition hike proposal and it’s belief that the administration should look to alternative funding sources to make up the $100 million budget shortfall imposed by the state legislature. As such, we will present an alternative budget proposal to the Board of Governors on December 9th.

Furthermore, the coalition is not composed solely of Students for a Democratic Society, the Campus Y and student government. Unaffiliated, concerned students form a large portion of the UNC Education Justice Alliance. Painting the coalition as nothing more than a task force composed of three major student organizations negates the contributions of unaffiliated students, and effectively erases them from the conversation.

Read more …

Readers of this article should be advised that the information presented here is not representative of the student coalition organizing against tuition hikes. Please disregard this misinformed reporting when discussing tuition hikes.

This isn’t the first time I’m disappointed by the DTH but without a doubt this story has not only crossed the line of unethical journalism but leaped bounds across it.
You published a story yesterday outlining the depth of the problem regarding affordable public education and the very next day have worked to delegitimize the efforts of the very people who are working incredibly hard to organize and fight back.
In the span of less than two weeks following the Board of Trustees meeting, dozens of students have come together, and multiple leaders from various organizations in order to discuss next steps to prevent debilitating tuition increases.
So far in two weeks, we have developed numerous working groups dedicated to outreach, research objectives, and strategic planning, to name a few, developed a timeline for next steps , and reached out to faculty and community members. I as a full time student have spent 10 hours in meetings around tuition increases in the past 2 weeks, while working two jobs and balancing my academic load (a very common story among the students working in this coalition) because I love UNC too much to see it lose its identity as an affordable public institution and instead of applauding the efforts of these students (many of whom are juniors and seniors and not the students who will be most hurt by these tuition increases) you decided to do a Fox News-esque hack job without any facts to back up your claims other than misquoting two individuals as encompassing the diversity of voices present within this movement. That’s not journalism, that’s bullying.
The DTH holds a level of power and prestige by being a platform that reaches a number of students and community members that many groups can’t otherwise reach, but instead of using this power to support the efforts of students who are working tirelessly to have a sophisticated and cohesive plan of action, you chose to make claims without a basis in facts or understanding and silence the voices of students who really want to find a solution. Shame on you, you definitely don’t know how to pick your battles and you have let down your main readership: the students who are going to be hurt by these proposed tuition increases.

I would like to point out that the UNC EJ Alliance is not a protest, which is a singular event. There really isn’t a single correct part of that headline. Your first sentence contradicts the headline entirely!

I’m disappointed that front page space was wasted on an article where the sole point made was that there is a group of students on campus that have so far failed to become exactly the same. How little does the DTH value its own front page?