Higher Dread

Hey y’all. A couple weeks ago the DC-based Chronicle of Higher Education ran a story from right in our backyard about a coordinated effort by Kootenai County Republicans to run for the ostensibly non-partisan North Idaho College Board of Trustees on explicitly conservative talking points. They leveraged the full power of the local Republican Central Committee, ended up winning a super majority on the board, then quickly came into conflict with the college’s administration, faculty and staff. The report’s author, Emma Pettit, joins us to get the details. It’s a fascinating window on our region and a great conversation, though one important question remains unanswered: whether this is a new tactic in the conservative war on higher education or if it’s just Kootenai County being Kootenai County. As a bit of a coda, this week Emma wrote a quasi-follow up piece about Idaho Freedom Action’s campaign to “Fix Idaho Colleges” by robocalling about Marxism and how students are conditioned to “apologize for being white.”FURTHER READINGA County Turns Against Its College | Emma Pettit | Chronicle of Higher Education“I Don’t Work for You, Greg” | Fallout from Emma’s story | Cd’A PressNIC Pres: ‘These are more than serious distractions’| Spokesman-ReviewPREVIOUS REPORTINGNIC trustee Wood calls for chair to resign | Cd’A PressNIC trustees reject removal of board chair in split vote | Spokesman-ReviewCITEDHere’s What Happens When Republicans Have No One to Fight | BuzzfeedGOOFSIt’s a whole new ballgame on campus Get full access to RANGE at www.rangemedia.co/subscribe