RALEIGH—State legislators and a group of conservative students Wednesday denounced the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill for its choice of a summer-reading book about the plight of low-paid workers in America. The legislators and students questioned the agenda, intellectual honesty, and scholarly merit of author Barbara Ehrenreich’s Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America at a press conference Wednesday at the General Assembly.

Nickel and Dimed presents Erenreich’s personal experiences working four low-paid jobs and her reactions to the unfairness of capitalism in the United States. The group of students, the Committee for a Better Carolina, said Erenreich uses anecdotal evidence and charged political opinions to illustrate the plight of poor and unskilled workers. The book does not honestly explore fairness in the U.S. economy, but relies on “intellectual pornography with no redeeming characteristics,” Sen. Hugh Webster, R-Burlington said.

The student group placed full-page ads in the summer edition of UNC’s student newspaper, the Daily Tar Heel, and in Wednesday’s editions of The News & Observer of Raleigh, that alleges the book is biased against capitalism and challenges the author’s radical socialist agenda. The ad claims the university’s decision to use only Erenreich’s book and to exclude alternative materials does not give the students an opportunity to engage in intellectual discussion or to exercise balanced judgment. “Does this book really represent the spirit of tolerance, acceptance, and inclusion that university administrators hold so dear?” asked Michael McKnight, president and founder of CBC.

The ad also criticizes the university’s misrepresentation of the book. The ad lists a lack of contrary perspective; Erenreich’s offensive descriptions of Christians, whites, conservatives, and Latinos, and the author’s elitist attitude. Following UNC’s controversial choice of Approaching the Qur’an for summer reading, Erenreich’s book reflects “a longstanding pattern of anti-Christian bias and even bigotry,” said Sen. Austin Allran, R-Hickory. Allran suggested that the university’s choices of reading material have driven a wedge between average citizens and UNC officials. “UNC needs to start caring about the taxpayers who pay the bills,” Allran said.

Sen. Ham Horton, R-Forsyth, said that in the past five years only one UNC summer book selection has been written by a scholar. Most were written by journalists and none of the books were “great literature,” he said. Horton and several other conservative legislators said they will send a letter this week to university Chancellor James Moeser questioning UNC’s dedication to scholarly substance and intellectual balance. The letter will also invite the university to publish the list of other books that were considered for this year’s summer reading assignment.

To counter the opinions espoused in Nickel and Dimed, CBC will host a website dedicated to alternative perspectives on economic fairness in America, capitalism, and free enterprise. McKnight said the group will market its web site to freshmen and transfer student reading Erenreich’s book, and he hopes some will be able to access the site through a link on the university’s Summer Reading Program website. The CBC’s website will include information from sources in North Carolina and around the country, including the Heritage Foundation, the American Enterprise Institute, and the John Locke Foundation. The CBC will encourage university officials to select classic books that “have been widely recognized for their academic and intellectual value.”

Ashley is an editorial intern and a graduate student at UNC-Chapel Hill.