Michael Johnson: Tuition and segregation

In the May 20 news article “Faculty group faults low-tuition proposal,” it was reported that a UNC system faculty group objects to proposed legislation that would lower tuition at five campuses.

Among other concerns, these faculty fear that it might attract “racial majority populations,” i.e. white students, to “the four named minority schools.”

Can these seriously be the same academics who are preaching the benefits of diversity out of the other side of their mouths? I think we dispensed with the idea that minorities should have a “separate but equal” educational experience in “minority schools” many years ago.

Furthermore, if large numbers of minority students are funneled into racially unbalanced “minority schools,” then there will be fewer minority students available to enroll in the other institutions within the UNC system, thus adversely affecting diversity throughout the system.

There might be some good reasons why tuition should not be lowered, but maintaining de facto racial segregation is not one of them.

This story was originally published May 23, 2016 at 4:39 PM with the headline "Michael Johnson: Tuition and segregation."