It is a well-known fact that NC State’s cash cow is STEM. Billions of dollars have flooded the campus over the years to expand STEM programs, research and infrastructure. Looking at this year’s state budget appropriations and the recently released Physical Master Plan, this doesn’t seem set to change.
But NC State is so much more than a STEM school. The University’s second-largest college is the College of Humanities and Social Sciences, with 4,701 students across its various programs. This is admittedly smaller than the College of Engineering, so I don’t expect the same levels of investment.
Still, it is one thing to recognize graduated levels of investment and no investment whatsoever. If we compare the College of Humanities and Social Sciences to the similarly sized Poole College of Management, there are still major discrepancies.
We can look at the average pay scale for professors at Poole and CHASS. Instructors at Poole regularly make more than CHASS professors. Conveniently, the highest-paid professors in the humanities and social sciences are in more science-heavy fields like psychology and sociology while areas of study like English and communications make less.
Or we can look at the recent state budgets passed by the North Carolina General Assembly. Beyond the University-wide salary increases, CHASS saw no notable funding to expand its research capacities or renovate its current infrastructure — at least not to the extent of other colleges.
This is in line with the 2021 state budget, which also saw little funds go toward CHASS but rather toward funding agricultural and biomedical research programs, renovations to Centennial Campus science buildings like Fitts-Woolard Hall and a brand new esports facility.
This takes me to the recently announced Physical Master Plan, NC State’s lofty and ambitious expansion plan to push NC State to the forefront of the modern university landscape. This plan covers a broad range of topics, even going so far as to suggest adding a bridge from Talley Student Union’s top floor to the other side of the train tracks that divide Central and North Campus.
The plan also highlights the need for the University to modernize its infrastructure, a process we have already seen break ground with the construction of the Integrative Sciences Building. It seems like every college is getting love in this plan — except CHASS.
While Centennial Campus has dozens of suggestions for revitalization, expansion and modernization, CHASS has only one suggestion — a pathway between Caldwell and Winston Halls to make access to North Campus from Hillsborough Street easier.
On North Campus, Poole College of Management will receive a brand new building and modernizing renovations to another. The central portion, which is mostly science buildings, is gaining two new buildings and further renovations to Mann, Lampe and Dabney Halls.
CHASS only gets a new path connecting Hillsborough Street to the Court of North Carolina. This is a pathetic and negligent drawback of the Master Plan.
CHASS students are regularly crammed into basement classrooms with poor ventilation and lighting, spotty Wi-Fi on the best days and little in the way of modern technology. If you’re lucky enough to go to a computer lab, you’ll feel like you’re back in elementary school as the computers are ancient compared to the rest of the school.
I’m not ragging on these renovations for the other colleges — they are much needed and will certainly contribute to making NC State a better place. My problem lies in the neglect of CHASS.
It truly makes no sense to me. Not only is CHASS the second-largest at the University, but Raleigh is the prime location to expand such studies. It is the hub of state politics, making it the prime location for public policy studies. It is home to many communication industries such as journalism and technical writing. Social work is also growing in cities across the country, making psychology and sociology huge draws for a plethora of companies, nonprofits and government organizations.
Simply put, it would be unwise of the University to not invest in the CHASS as it will inevitably be a major draw for many students across the state for the foreseeable future. As it stands, the University seems to want to put CHASS on the back burner, leaving it as an aging relic surrounded by futuristic technology and infrastructure.
I hope I am wrong, but I have my doubts. NC State needs to invest in its infrastructure, and it is taking the necessary steps to do that. But the entire University needs to be involved, not just the colleges that are most profitable.
