Margaret Spellings is being opposed by protesters as the new choice to lead at UNC because she was at one point affiliated with a company which collected student loan debt.

WRAL reports.

Protesters: Spellings wrong to lead UNC

About a half dozen people were escorted from the meeting Friday of the University of North Carolina Board of Governors after speaking out against the appointment of Margaret Spellings as the system’s new president.

One by one, protesters rose, loudly identified themselves and finished their comments with “Spellings must go.”

Brent Herron, associate vice president of campus safety and emergency management, said all seven of those ousted from the meeting had been asked to leave the building for the day. None will face arrest, he said.

Michael Behrent, a professor of history at Appalachian State University who was among those escorted out, said, “We think Margaret Spellings represents everything that is wrong with higher education. Her appointment really is a danger to the UNC system.”

Shannon Brien, a history and Chinese major at UNC-Chapel Hill who helped organize the protest, said she hoped to encourage the board to reconsider Spellings’ appointment.

Asked specifically what it is about Spellings that bothers her, Brien said, “Her history of being on the board of a company that profits off of student debt.” That was a reference to her service on the board of Ceannate Corp., a business that collects student loan debt. She has also served on the board of the for-profit University of Phoenix.