Senate Bill 558 is intended to chill free discussion and critical inquiry at higher education institutions in North Carolina. To take the national culture wars and enshrine them in state law is cynical and shames our great state.
By codifying administrative surveillance and narrowing the scope of permissible discourse, the state fosters an environment designed to manufacture compliance. For educators committed to intellectual honesty, teaching critical engagement becomes an act of resisting institutional fear. The purpose of this kind of law is to make us consistently second-guess ourselves, look over our shoulders, and hesitate. Self-censorship is the goal.
In Senate Bill 558, the state explicitly targets concepts where an individual might feel “discomfort, guilt, anguish, or any other form of psychological distress” regarding race or sex. Yet under Senate Bill 49, public school personnel are required to notify a student’s parents prior to any change in the name or pronouns used for the student in official school records or informally by staff. Through that so-called “Parents’ Bill of Rights,” the state mandates procedures in K-12 schools that actively create vulnerability, distress, and fear for LGBTQ+ students by removing their ability to seek confidential support.
But of course this law was mostly copy-pasted from conservative think-tanks, not developed out of genuine concern for the people of North Carolina.
I’ve been teaching for almost 20 years, and have always been careful not to bring my personal politics and beliefs into the classroom. Not because I’m afraid but because teaching isn’t about me; it’s about my students.
But maybe there’s a silver lining:
Under the literal text of § 116-417(a)(3) and § 116-416(4)(l), public institutions cannot endorse the concept that governments should deny equal protection of the law to any person within their jurisdiction.
I think this opens the door to truly begin advocating for in-state tuition for undocumented students.
An Unhappy Consciousness 