UNC's Book Decision Not Controversial This Time Around
by Jim Brown
August 27, 2004
(AgapePress) - A pro-family group says the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill appears to have learned some lessons from past controversy surrounding its summer reading program.Two summers ago, the Family Policy Network (FPN) filed a lawsuit against UNC over its requirement that incoming freshmen and transfer students read a book of excerpts from the Koran. The suit accused UNC of trampling students' First Amendment rights by forcing them to read a biased book on a particular religion.
This year's UNC summer reading program featured a book by Rolling Stone writer David Lipsky titled Absolutely American: Four Years at West Point. The campus committee that selected this year's book made their meetings public. That is a move FPN president Joe Glover endorses.
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FPN President Joe Glover |
"Any time you open a process like that to public scrutiny, ahead of a decision, you get more of a collective wisdom from the general public that benefits you in that process," Glover says. The resulting benefit, he explains, is that "when you make a decision, it's not one so outlandish as the one in 2002 -- when we were at war with basically Islamic extremists, and they were trying to putting a positive spin on Islam."Glover says the decision to have public meetings indicates UNC may be turning a corner.
"We weren't so interested in the book this year as we were in the process [used to select the book] -- and I think to some degree, the university has seen the light," he says. "They understand that public accountability can be a positive thing, and they've put that to good use this year. For what that's worth, we're pleased at that change."
Among the 500 books considered by the nine-member committee this year were the Bible, and Dude, Where's My Country by Michael Moore.
