A North Carolina School That Promises to Expose Students to a Wide Range of Viewpoints FIRES Professor for Criticizing CRT

The Governor’s School of North Carolina, which serves intellectually gifted students, embraces “critical race theory.”

Critical race theorists claim that groups and individuals are inferior or superior to others based on race, ethnicity, sex or religion, and that by virtue of their race, ethnicity, sex or religion, certain people are inherently responsible for the actions committed in the past by their ancestors.

Dr. David Phillips, formerly an English professor at the school, opposes this ideology as racially divisive. Rather than embracing intellectual diversity and encouraging discussion, however, the school fired Dr. Phillips. Note that he didn’t say CRT should be banned. He called it harmful and discussed it with his students. From Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), Dr. Phillips’s legal counsel:

After Phillips delivered three optional seminars in June 2021 critiquing critical theory and the increasing bias and lack of viewpoint diversity in higher education, North Carolina public school officials fired him mid-session without any explanation.

Dr. Phillips, who also attended the school, had complained over the years how he and others like him were treated at the school. He said he wanted to help the next generation of students test new ideas, wrestle with hard questions, and think for themselves.

“Those goals are at the core of the Governor’s School’s mission,” Dr. Phillips said. “The school promises parents that prospective students will be exposed to a wide range of differing viewpoints, so they can explore their own perspectives with new insights.”

But criticizing leftist orthodoxy? That’s not what the school apparently had in mind. By firing Dr. Phillips, the Governor’s School of North Carolina exposed its mission statement as a lie. Listen to what he endured from faculty and students before he was fired.

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3 comments

  1. Divide and conquer is the way every socialist, communist, fascist and other totalitarian regime has established their dictatorship.
    They disarm the citizens, shutter places of worship and either ban religion or establish a State religion. Imprisoning or disposing of all that disagree with the state.

  2. Merdies R. Hayes

    Isn’t CRT a “new idea” worthy of discussion? The best way to determine its merits is to allow our young people to debate it. If it valuable, keep it. If not, dump it immediately.

    • BCN Senior Editor

      “Note that [Phillips] didn’t say CRT should be banned. He called it harmful and discussed it with his students…After Phillips delivered three optional seminars in June 2021 critiquing critical theory and the increasing bias and lack of viewpoint diversity in higher education, North Carolina public school officials fired him mid-session without any explanation.”