University professors from across North Carolina met at Duke University Thursday to voice their concerns about the Republican-controlled North Carolina government and the direction “ultra-right” lawmakers are steering the state.

Scholars for a Progress North Carolina organized the event titled “Save Our State,” which attracted a crowd of more than 120 students, scholars and community members who gathered to hear SPNC representatives make their case against recent legislative activity. Through a panel discussion, SPNC representatives described much of the recent North Carolina legislations — such as cuts in unemployment benefits, rejections to expand Medicaid, proposed tax cuts for the wealthy, proposed changes in voters laws, a proposed repeal of motorcycle helmet laws and proposed cuts in the education — as part of an “ultra-right” agenda to prevent accountability through increased privatization.

“We came together because we saw a disturbing policy agenda emerging in North Carolina that seems to have a goal of hurting democratic communication and dismantling proven public institutional programs from schools to unemployment insurance,” said Lisa Levenstein, an associate professor of history at UNC-Greensboro and panelist. “The state legislature is now marching through that agenda at a speed that seems deliberately intended to prevent North Carolinians from weighing in this sweeping redesign of our state.”

Levinstein joined a panel of nine other professors from N.C. State, N.C. Central, UNC-Chapel Hill and Duke to condemn Republican policies. Each member of the panel highlighted a specific legislation or offered a perspective of current political trends in North Carolina.

Among the many concerns panel members raised, education, from kindergarten to college instruction, remained a topic of particular interest to many students in the crowd. Helen Ladd, a professor of public policy studies and economics at Duke, talked about the privatization of education — from charter schools to universities. She said the Republican government, which controls the North Carolina General Assembly, the Governor’s Office and the higher courts, is depriving the state’s biggest resource, education. 

Ladd raised attention about Senate Bill 337 – N.C. Public Charter Schools Board, a proposal to remove charter schools from the State Board of Education. Ladd said SB 337 creates a dual system for pre-college education: a public route and a private charter system. With SB 337, the private charter system will have access to government funds, but will be overseen by a separate school board. The bill also removes certification and college-education requirements of charter school teaching staff.

Ladd said that this proposal will segregate schools even further and decrease accountability in an education system that is improving but still struggling. North Carolina public spending on K-12 education ranks 46th in the nation and teacher’s salaries rank 48th.

“This private vision represents serious threats to our state’s education system,” Ladd said. “It diverts attention away from the public purposes of education and greatly reduces accountability of the use of public funds. The role of education as an engine for opportunity for every North Carolina child is sacrificed in favor of greater benefits for those already at an advantage.” 

Citing influence from Civil Rights and historic Democratic leaders, such as 65th North Carolina Governor Terry Sanford. SPNC leaders also talked about the organization of the modern progressive movement for which it advocates and how to approach the perceived threat of the “ultra-right.”

Nancy MacLean, a professor of history and public policy at Duke University, said although her father was a Republican, the party of her father was very different than the “ultra-right” party influencing the national and state-level political scene today.

MacLean said the “ultra-right” movement has roots in Barry Goldwater’s 1964 presidential race. As an influential conservative and libertarian politician, Goldwater was also known for opposing the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which outlawed many forms of discrimination.

Although Goldwater did not win the presidency, MacLean said many of his ideologies found their way into think tanks such as the Heritage Foundation, the American Enterprise Institute and the Cato Institute — organizations the SPNC sees in opposition to itself.

“Because most people do not want what ultra-conservatives want, to enact their agenda they will have to radically change the operating rules of governance and make structural changes to democracy,” Maclean said. “They need to break down ordinary citizen’s ability to come together and persuade the government to act on behalf of the common good.

“That is why the ultra-right in North Carolina and in Washington is so bent on suppressing voter turnout, on getting anti-union laws into state constitutions and on abating public decision-making and accountability through de-legalization and privatization.”

Maclean compared what she said she sees in the “ultra-right” movement to the military strategy of “shock and awe.”

“The purpose is to hit so hard and on so many fronts at once that the adversary becomes paralyzed and loses the will to fight,” Maclean said. “Will it work here in North Carolina? We are shocked, but we’re also energized. The new assembly has pushed us to speak out and organize against what we know to be wrong and speak for the policies that we know to be right and proven for our state.”

A few N.C. State students including Bryan Perlmutter, a senior in business administration and member of the North Carolina Student Power Union, came to listen and show solidarity with the SPNC on Thursday.

“I think there’s a necessity for both students and faculty associated with the universities to stand up and create action and create change and not allow this reactionary conservative agenda to take over North Carolina,” Perlmutter said.

Katherine Mellen Charron, an associate professor of history at N.C. State and panelist at Save Our State, agreed and said that to create change, students should voice their concerns about the new direction of education and increased tuition over the years, and professors need to be more active in listening to students and advocating for their concerns.

“I think [the progressive movement] needs to move into more public spaces like churches and libraries,” Charron said. “We need to reach out to as many people as possible and start having conversations so we can all understand how people view the situation. I think the problem is there is no counterweight to what is happening now. There is no balance because one party has control over everything so they don’t have to compromise with anybody.”