University of North Carolina student Alex Thomas spent this summer writing for the the John W. Pope Center for Higher Education Policy.

As an example of the campus “War on Men”, Thomas recounted the school’s treatment of Art Pope, an UNC alum who helped found the Libertarian Party of North Carolina in 1976.

The most recent growth of hate towards Art Pope was a result of Governor McCrory’s decision to cut over $55 million dollars from the UNC system. Students were outraged, and even some wrote to The Daily Tar Heel (DTH) to express their frustration. Matthew Hickson, who recently graduated from UNC with a degree in business, wrote in an April 9th letter to the editor that “politicians in the N.C. legislature have initiated a full-on attack against students, workers and people of color in North Carolina”. When Pope stopped by campus to give a lecture to a philosophy course, UNC’s Student Power Union, a socialist organization, protested his visit. To quote community organizer Sanyu Gichie in an April 9th DTH article, “As a person of color and a woman, his politics oppress me and people of my kind”. In this same article, Prashanth Kamalakanthan, chairman and co-founder of Duke Students for a Democratic Society, another socialist group, said “We’re being attacked by all sides, and our struggles for liberation are bound by our opposition to hateful, discriminatory economics and social policies.”

I find it interesting that the university that tries to spread diversity across campus is not afraid to attack people for their political affiliation. With efforts such as the Tunnel of Oppression, which tries to force, I mean teach, people to accept those of different beliefs through overdramatized demonstrations, political diversity has been the ugly stepchild of those who preach diversity. Even worse, people seem to put political bias above actual fact, falsely building up their own beliefs against people like Pope, labeling them with whatever they desire to make their opinions stronger.

…So what is it that has UNC’s student body being hateful towards Pope’s efforts? In my opinion, it has a lot to do with Pope’s affiliation with the Republican Party. From the campus that promises to strive for diversity, UNC has ignored providing a place of political diversity. Through the harsh treatment of Art Pope as well as past actions by the Student Congress, mainly Austin Root’s admitted intolerance for funding ammunition for the Tar Heel Rifle and Pistol Club, Carolina has emerged as a utopia for liberals, but as an equal hell for conservatives.

The treatment of Art Pope is mainly based on the fact that he is a conservative. His past, as well as his current efforts, are seen on both sides of the aisle, and his efforts are not based on racial or sexual discrimination, but rather his own beliefs.. ..