From With the blessing of the state NAACP, around 20 people protested tonight at N.C. State University about what they called conservative businessman Art Pope’s “privatization of public schools.”
With the blessing of the state NAACP, around 20 people protested tonight at N.C. State University about what they called conservative businessman Art Pope’s “privatization of public schools.”
With the blessing of the state NAACP, around 20 people protested tonight at N.C. State University about what they called conservative businessman Art Pope’s “privatization of public schools.”
The protesters painted Pope as an enemy of public education. They bashed the Pope and his Pope Family Foundation as having put the new school board majority in power and for criticizing university programs such as multicultural studies.
“Pope, hands off our public education,” chanted the protesters, consisting of N.C. State students, high school students and others who’ve joined the efforts to back Wake’s diversity policy. “We don’t want his resegregation.”
Elena Everett, an N.C. state alum and the protest organizer, said she had gotten a call of encouragement this afternoon from the Rev. William Barber, president of the state NAACP. Everett is community media director for the left-wing Southern Coalition for Social Justice, based in Durham.
The official impetus for tonight’s event was a speech at N.C. State given by former Bush speechwriter David Frum, who was brought in by a Pope funded student group.
The protesters initially marched into the speech before being told to leave.
Outside, the protesters were talking to the media and giving this flier and a copy of this e-mail message that had been sent by Wake GOP official Marc Scruggs to school board chairman Ron Margiotta saying they had implemented Art Pope’s plan.
That e-mail message was reported about in December. At the time, Pope said the message gave him too much credit for the school board election results.
Today, Pope said he would have normally liked to have been at Frum’s speech so he could chat personally with the protesters. But he said he had a prior commitment in the form of an Eric Clapton concert.
Pope dismissed the idea that his financial support for various public university programs means he’s trying to privatize education. He also took exception to the claim made in the press release for tonight’s event that members of the board majority are his “misguided puppets.”
“It’s very insulting to any elected board member to say that, not to mention the majority of voters who supported them,” Pope said of the puppets remark.
Source: Newsobserver.com