Higher Education | 2002 Archive

State universities elsewhere are boosting tuitions between 12 percent and 25 percent next year. UNC students and profs are upset about an 8 percent hike. It's time for a reality check: North Carolina's minuscule tuitions are bad public policy.

A freshman newly arrived on campus and inundated with the many college-orientation sessions that mark his first experience in a new situation might wonder, why all the fuss?

UNC-Chapel Hill needs a great deal more courses in "Sexuality Studies," special theme housing for gay students, domestic-partner benefits for gay faculty and a revision of dependent benefits to include unadopted children in a domestic-partner arrangement, and the creation of a new campus office, complete with directors, staff, and an advisory committee, to consolidate academic and support resources for gay students, faculty, and staff.

The stage is set for the Supreme Court to tackle that thorniest of issues, the legality of racial preferences in college admissions. All that remains is for the Court to decide to review the case.