Nearly 700 faculty members oppose US origins course requirement

Nearly 700 faculty members from the University of North Carolina expressed their opposition to a proposed law that would require students to take courses on the origins of the United States.

A public letter was recently signed by 673 professors from UNC Chapel Hill, as reported by Erudera. The letter argued that the new courses and another measure in the North Carolina House of Representatives would violate academic freedom and replace faculty intellectual expertise with “ideological force-feeding.” 

House Bill 96, the proposed legislation, mandates that students take a three-credit hour course on the US founding documents.

The course requires students to read the US Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, the Emancipation Proclamation, at least five essays from the Federalist Papers, Dr. Martin Luther King’s Letter from Birmingham Jail, and The Gettysburg Address. Students must also pass a test covering these founding documents, including understanding the authors’ perspectives.

“Our leaders continue to disregard campus autonomy, attack the expertise and independence of world-class faculty, and seek to force students’ educations into pre-approved ideological containers,” the letter read via Erudera.

The letter also raised concerns about House Bill 715, called the Higher Ed. The bill proposes setting minimum class sizes and requiring the disclosure of all non-instructional research conducted by university staff. 

The professors argue that these measures will not only harm UNC’s reputation but also negatively impact the entire state of North Carolina. They warn that such interference in university affairs may attract scrutiny from accrediting agencies.

House Bill 96 passed the North Carolina House in March and has since advanced through the state Senate with support primarily from Republicans, along with two Democrats. 

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