Durham scientist joins U.S. Senate field in North Carolina
March 3, 2021
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DURHAM, N.C. (AP) A scientist and university administrator announced Wednesday that he ll run for a North Carolina U.S. Senate seat being vacated at the end of 2022 by Republican incumbent Richard Burr.
Richard Watkins Jr. of Durham said he s entering the Senate race in part to ensure “science is represented at the highest levels of our government,” particularly with challenges like climate change and COVID-19. “If we are to tackle the great challenges of tomorrow, then science must lead today, he added.
Watkins joins at least two other Democrats who ve announced their candidacies current state Sen. Jeff Jackson and former state Sen. Erica Smith. Smith finished second in the 2020 Democratic Senate primary to Cal Cunningham. Watkins ran a distant third to U.S. Rep. David Price in a three-candidate Democratic primary in 2018 for Price s 4th District seat.
Darrell Allison: I m a leader : Fayetteville State Chancellor-Elect speaks out as some question his appointment abc11.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from abc11.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Darrell Allison
The blowback was swift after the University of North Carolina Board of Governors chose one of its own to be the next chancellor of Fayetteville State University.
The board s pick, Darrell Allison, resigned from the board in September to make a bid for the open chancellorship at the historically Black public university. But even before that move, Allison was a divisive figure in North Carolina higher education. He publicly supported a controversial plan to preserve Silent Sam a Confederate statue at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill s campus after protesters pulled it down in 2018. He has no experience in teaching or administration in higher education, and he spent much of his career advocating for K-12 charter schools. He currently serves as a vice president at the American Federation for Children, a school choice advocacy organization that has given money to conservative groups and candidates and that was once chaired by Betsy DeVos, the former ed
Observer Forum: Is Allison the right person for Fayetteville State? Readers weigh in
The Fayetteville Observer
On Feb. 18, Fayetteville State University announced it had selected Darrell Allison as its 12th chancellor. The choice has been controversial among some alumni and FSU advocates, who question the selection process as well as Allison s non-traditional resume for a university leadership post.
We asked readers what they thought about the choice.
Thank you to everyone who weighed in.
If you’d still like to contribute to the discussion, send us a letter to the editor: eletters@fayobserver.com.
Joe Mango
In many traditional instances, the chancellor comes from the academy. Given his wherewithal in fund-raising and alliance-building, perhaps he could be the “straw that stirs the drink” in moving FSU into developing new corporate, governmental and global alliances.
Darrell Allison is qualified to lead FSU. Whatever his affiliations, they do not put him at odds with FSU s historical, educational and cultural traditions.