Letter: UNCA cuts will damage region, future generations

I am a tenured business professor and UNC Asheville’s entrepreneurship professor of 10 years, as well as a volunteer board member at Hatch Innovation Hub. I am writing as a public citizen to express my concern over recent decisions made at UNCA and by extension, the University of North Carolina System. I hold no animosity toward leaders, as these decisions are driven by pressures from the governing and funding bodies in Raleigh, and the political and economic actors in North Carolina and beyond who have influenced recent decisions to roll back diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives and trim offerings in philosophy, drama, ancient Mediterranean studies, religious studies, and language and literatures at our public liberal arts university.

As a political economist, feminist political philosopher and published expert on the topic of entrepreneurial ecosystems and inclusive economic development through innovation and entrepreneurship, I find the arguments offered to be narrow and shortsighted, and the decisions made to be potentially detrimental to future generations and the region.

Removing or reducing philosophy offerings from public liberal arts education is a dangerous precedent. Philosophy is the foundation of all business ethics. Philosophy is the foundation of our understanding of the good life, the just society, the meaning of life and how we build the institutions, systems and structures for living and thriving in a free and democratic society. The humanities and the arts inform leaders, entrepreneurs, innovators and professionals how to lead, how to make ethical decisions, how to engage in creative problem-solving and how to treat other human beings from all walks of life.

Business that is unmoored from ethical humanism and philosophical understanding is transactional at best and destructive at worst.  Further, UNCA’s most talented entrepreneurship students are often drama majors or minors, as they are seasoned in public speaking, and confident and effective at selling their ideas to a public audience.

UNCA’s front-line workers — the faculty and staff — have been consistently innovative, deeply involved in the community and engaged contributors to the region, given their expertise and willingness to engage with myriad stakeholders. These dedicated professionals have been essential in executing the mission of our state’s public liberal arts university well before the arrival of recent chancellors and vice chancellors who execute the administrative decisions coming from Raleigh.

UNCA’s front-line workers — like other public school teachers in the state —– struggle to make ends meet given the low market rates of pay relative to the high cost of living. They are the vanguard, the innovators, the subject matter experts and the humans interacting with our students day in and day out, year in and year out. The complete disregard of norms of shared governance and the blanket rejection of the letter coming from the faculty leadership (of which I was involved as a collaborator, although I do not serve as chair of the business department) is indeed an unfortunate turn in relations between our faculty and administration.

Please write a letter to your elected leaders and administration to express your support for faculty and to preserve an effective public liberal arts education for our state that includes philosophy, drama, religious studies, ancient Mediterranean studies, and languages and literatures.

— Susan Clark Muntean, Ph.D., MBA
Asheville