Here is the text of last week’s resolution by the Graduate and Professional Student Federation at UNC-Chapel Hill (all emphasis in original):

GRADUATE AND PROFESSIONAL STUDENT FEDERATION
OF THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA AT CHAPEL HILL

Resolution 04-12

A RESOLUTION FOR THE GPSF TO TAKE A STAND AGAINST ACCEPTING MONIES FROM ART AND JOHN WILLIAM POPE FOR THE CREATION OF A PROGRAM IN ?STUDIES IN WESTERN CULTURES?

9 NOV. 04: INTRODUCED BY: Morgan Johnson, Ethan Lechner, David Holdzkom

WHEREAS, A faculty committee is drafting a grant proposal for several million dollars from Art and John William Pope to create a program in ?Studies in Western Cultures?;

WHEREAS, Art and John William Pope fund the John William Pope Foundation, the Pope Center for Higher Education Policy, and the John Locke Foundation;

WHEREAS, These organizations have systematically attacked professors and programs at UNC-CH and in the UNC System, including: ?The Social and Economic History of the Black Presence at UNC Chapel Hill?; courses designed to address Race, Class, and Gender inequalities; a course in femininity and feminism; the cultural diversity requirement at UNC-CH; the Social and Economic Justice Minor at UNC-CH; the Sexuality Studies Minor; the Latina/o Studies Minor at UNC-CH; and the Carolina Covenant;

WHEREAS, These attacks disparage the core values of the UNC-CH mission to ?provide high-quality undergraduate instruction to students within a community engaged in original inquiry and creative expression, while committed to intellectual freedom, to personal integrity and justice, and to those values that foster enlightened leadership for the state and the nation?;

WHEREAS, These attacks work to create a climate hostile to academic freedom for instructors, particularly graduate instructors;

WHEREAS, The Popes will monitor the program through a four-year or five-year review to determine continuation of funding;

WHEREAS, The Faculty Assembly, that represents all 16 campuses of UNC, has passed a resolution in support of academic freedom, and Brad Wilson, chair of the Board of Governors, also clearly stated that the University System was in full support of academic freedom;

WHEREAS, The Faculty Senate of NCSU has passed a resolution in support of academic freedom and a similar resolution will be voted on by the Faculty Council at UNC-CH;

Therefore let it be RESOLVED that the GPSF Senate takes a stand in support of academic freedom and against accepting money from Art and John William Pope for the creation of the proposed program in ?Studies in Western Cultures.?