To: The North Carolina State Senate

Save ECSU #saveecsu

Victory! The creator of this petition declared the campaign a success. You can still sign the petition to show support.

Support public education in North Carolina by voting against any budget bill that includes a provision to study the dissolution of Elizabeth City State University. ECSU creates jobs as well as educational and economic opportunities; it promotes an educated and prosperous citizenry and a skilled and knowledgeable workforce in North Carolina's most impoverished region.

Why is this important?

State Senate Bill 744 [pg. 65] includes a two-line provision to “study the feasibility of dissolving any constituent institution whose fall full-time equivalent student enrollment declined by more than twenty percent (20%) between the 2010-2011 fiscal year and the 2013-2014 fiscal year and shall develop a plan for its dissolution. The Board of Governors shall report its findings and recommendations, including the plan for dissolution, to the 2015 General Assembly.” According to the University of North Carolina, the only constituent institution that meets this criterion is Elizabeth City State University.

Elizabeth City State University is a historically African-American institution, or HBCU, that serves a 21-county service area in northeastern North Carolina, the most impoverished region of the state. Washington Monthly ranks ECSU #1, in large part, because of the social mobility that it encourages. According to Atlantic Monthly, "students [at ECSU] graduate at about twice the rate statistical models would predict, given the demographic the university serves." ECSU is the third-largest employer in the region and an engine of economic growth ($118 million in output sales, $83 million in value added, and $59 million in labor income). North Carolina needs ECSU.