Let's talk about wealth

This column is part of a series written by seniors from the pilot senior seminar on American citizenship. The class is led by its students, whose interests and experiences are as diverse as their areas of study. These columns are their lessons.

When Ian Williams wrote his famous “Why I Hate Duke” column in 1990, he was talking about more than basketball. We all know you can’t set foot on Duke’s faux-Gothic campus without feeling the weight of the private wealth that built its spires and arches.

At UNC, we take pride in being public. But while we imagine our university as a great equalizer, we seldom talk about what it equalizes; we almost never talk about wealth.

Discussions of students’ radically different socioeconomic backgrounds are rare on this campus. We hardly ever acknowledge the fact that some of us will enter the post-UNC world constricted by loan payments, while others — whether because of family background or scholarship opportunities — will graduate debt-free.

By observing this taboo against talking about money, we’re doing ourselves and our society a disservice.

There seems to be a broader trend at work here: Americans generally don’t talk about their wealth, and most of us like to think of ourselves as middle class.

According to a 2008 Pew Research Center poll, 33 percent of Americans making $150,000 or more per year self-identified as middle class. Forty-one percent of Americans making less than $20,000 per year also called themselves middle class.

Perhaps this is a symptom of a political discourse that labels any discussion of wealth inequality as “class warfare.” Or maybe this phenomenon stems from a belief in social mobility.

But something is shifting. Our generation seems to think a conversation about wealth and resource allocation is long overdue (can we fail to mention Occupy?).

So for last week’s seminar, we chose to talk about wealth. We started by addressing an ethos particularly strong in this country — the idea of giving back.

This topic, which is especially relevant to a university increasingly reliant on private giving, raises a wide range of questions about wealth, government and individual responsibility.

Does “giving back” imply that getting rich is great, as long as some of the money is spent philanthropically? Does it matter how you get rich?

In a society of extreme wealth inequality, does giving back counteract the forces of economic injustice? Or does it offer the privileged a chance not only to acquire wealth at the expense of others but also to have disproportionate power in determining how society spends its money?

The conversation that followed these questions was the most contentious our class has had all semester.

The other members of the seminar offered compelling arguments on both sides. Some felt strongly that a democratically elected government must have the greatest authority to allocate resources.

In this vision, “giving back” happens through taxation, and the wealthy aren’t granted the right to determine how this money is spent.

Others argued that, with a small government and low taxes, individuals are better able to create their own vibrant communities that give back on their own terms. And on both sides of the spectrum, many agreed that government can crowd out other expressions of community.

But regardless of the differing opinions expressed, we all felt the conversation was valuable.

As seniors, many of us are thinking for the first time about the importance of giving back. Requests are already rolling in that we write a check for $20.12 to the University that has given us so much. And after we graduate, the weight of our financial decisions will only grow.

We call on seniors and all students to think and talk about wealth, how it is acquired, and what wealth inequality means for a democratic society.

These conversations will ensure that our opinions and actions regarding private and public wealth are not founded in the quick jabs of a basketball rivalry, but are instead the result of true introspection and reflection on the meaning of responsible citizenship.