AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.<\/p>\n
Read our AI Policy.<\/a><\/p>\n When UNC-Chapel Hill freshman Mo Zheng saw the course description for a class called \u201cPursuing The Good Life,\u201d it seemed like kismet.<\/p>\n Read more Khloe Kardashian Regrets Getting Cats Declawed: ‘I Was Really Misadvised’<\/a><\/p>\n The questions asked in the course description<\/a> were ones he\u2019d been asking himself as of late: \u201cHow should I live? Whom and how should I love? What claims do family, friends and country have on me? What is the source of meaning, purpose, happiness and transcendence? How should I deal with suffering, injustice and my own mortality?\u201d<\/p>\n Zheng said that sometimes, it feels like he doesn\u2019t know why he\u2019s doing what he\u2019s doing \u2014 and he\u2019s doing a lot. He\u2019s pursuing a major in neuroscience, a minor in the School of Civic Life and Leadership<\/a>, playing violin in the UNC Orchestra, volunteering at local hospitals and trying to figure out how to answer when people ask where he\u2019s from. He\u2019s lived in Shenzhen, Szechuan, Toronto, Clemson, Greenville, Raleigh and now, Chapel Hill.<\/p>\n At the age of just 18, his gifts and talents are matched by his dedication and thoughtfulness.<\/p>\n Of his many pursuits, there\u2019s one that helps him pay for college: minoring in the School of Civic Life and Leadership.<\/p>\n The stated mission of UNC\u2019s School of Civic Life and Leadership is to \u201ceducate citizens and leaders for constitutional self-government through free inquiry and civil discourse.\u201d<\/p>\n But the school has drawn controversy from the start for the conservative values that informed its creation in 2023. An investigation into allegations surrounding hiring practices and leadership misconduct prompted further scrutiny \u2014 especially after UNC said the results of that investigation would not be made public<\/a>.<\/p>\n The News & Observer delved into the debate to get a sense of what it\u2019s like inside the school. The N&O spoke to four students who minor or take classes in the School of Civic Life and Leadership; attended a class session; interviewed professors; and analyzed more than 20 syllabi and 400 pages of email records.<\/p>\n Zheng was one of those students who spoke to The N&O this spring.<\/p>\n He is a recipient of the school\u2019s Libertas Scholarship<\/a>, which awards him $3,000 per semester for pursuing the minor. Because he\u2019s on financial aid, the $3,000 covers the remaining balance of his tuition and fees, giving him an effective full ride.<\/p>\n The money played into his decision to pursue the minor, Zheng said. So did fulfilling a credit distribution requirement. But he\u2019s been fascinated by the course material ever since.<\/p>\n The first assignment was a one-page, double-spaced essay asking a simple question: \u201cWhat is the meaning of life?\u201d<\/p>\n The School of Civic Life was envisioned as a haven for intellectual diversity on a liberal campus, a place where people could feel comfortable exploring viewpoints outside the mainstream. It\u2019s also been referred to by its critics<\/a> as a \u201cthinly veiled Trojan horse for an explicitly conservative takeover of higher education,\u201d as described by UNC student Nia Quigley at a campus protest.<\/p>\n Infighting at the school, and the allegations of mismanagement, have swirled since its creation \u2014 causing massive turnover in its faculty ranks. Almost none of the academics initially involved with the school are still a part of it.<\/p>\n The accusations triggered UNC to hire an outside law firm to investigate the school. All told, the investigation cost more than $1.2 million. The decision to not release the report has caused both outrage outside the school and discomfort within<\/a>.<\/p>\n The end of the spring 2026 semester was marked by campus protests and calls for a boycott of the school \u2014 and a simultaneous elevation of its status on campus.<\/p>\n SCiLL is now an independent academic unit<\/a>, separate from its original home in the College of Arts and Sciences. That means the school will stand alone \u2014 on par with units like the Kenan-Flagler School of Business or the Hussman School of Journalism. It will give the dean of the school, Jed Atkins, more autonomy over the school\u2019s operations: things like hiring practices, budget considerations and curriculum.<\/p>\n When Zheng reviewed the syllabus for his Good Life class, he was surprised by what he saw.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was a bit jarring to see that the Bible was one of the four course materials,\u201d Zheng said. \u201cI\u2019m from a family who\u2019s quite atheist. I have a nonreligious background.<\/p>\n \u201cBut I wasn\u2019t deterred by that. Religion is definitely something worth exploring, and there\u2019s no reason why we should remove the Bible from the course requirements. But it\u2019s definitely a choice whether you want to take the course.\u201d<\/p>\n Throughout the 21 syllabi reviewed by The N&O, Christianity is a central intellectual framework. Most courses assign Christian texts \u2014 scripture appears in courses like The Christian Story or Political Theology, but also courses that aren\u2019t expressly about religion.<\/p>\n Students in SCiLL read Genesis, Exodus, John, Matthew, Romans, Peter, Psalms, the Book of Job and the work of Augustine and Thomas Aquinas, among many other Christian thinkers. Judaism and Islam appear on vanishingly few occasions compared to Christian texts.<\/p>\n For sophomore Nad\u00e8ge Sirot, that is natural and not surprising. She\u2019s a classics major and a SCiLL minor.<\/p>\n \u201cThe inclusion of religious texts and religious motifs \u2014 rather than to say [Christianity] is more important than others \u2014 is to understand the absolutely gargantuan impact that Christian morality and values have had on our society,\u201d Sirot said. \u201cWe as Americans today still grapple with those effects when becoming citizens in a world that is still very much colored by Christian values.\u201d<\/p>\n SCiLL\u2019s director of undergraduate studies, Rita Koganzon, sees the Christian focus as a result of it being early on in the school\u2019s history. The school was founded in 2023 and does not yet have all the faculty hires with diverse interests she hopes it will one day have, Koganzon said.<\/p>\n \u201cThe goal is not to specifically focus on Christianity,\u201d Koganzon said. \u201cYou would have to be especially suspicious of Christianity to say that this is a program dominated by Christianity.\u201d<\/p>\n Zheng set up a time to meet with his Good Life professor Flynn Cratty, whom he deeply respects, to discuss that one-page essay assignment on the meaning of life. Zheng said the personal meanings Cratty shared with him were based in Christianity.<\/p>\n Read more Should the \u2018right to work\u2019 be part of NC\u2019s constitution? Voters may get to decide<\/a><\/p>\n Now, Zheng is taking another course with Cratty. It\u2019s a seminar on C.S. Lewis, where they read Lewis\u2019s \u201cMere Christianity.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cOne of the really pressing themes in that book is: \u2018The best time to convert is now,\u2019\u201d Zheng said. \u201cI did feel that, in a way. I feel like [conversion] is more of an option, in a sense, and I\u2019m getting to know that option. The thought is definitely there. It feels like a really big decision. It\u2019s a leap of faith, right?\u201d<\/p>\n Arianna Smith-Barnes, a freshman at UNC, sat through her Foundations of American Civic Life course on April 7, flashing the occasional expression of exasperation.<\/p>\n The topic of the class was the 1858 Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas debates. The debates centered around whether slavery should be permitted in new states joining the union from western territories. Professor Dan DiSalvo walked the students through each man\u2019s argument, giving equal credence and sober analysis to each. The perpetuation of slavery in new territories was given equal weight as an idea.<\/p>\n That\u2019s part of the point of SCiLL: to present controversial or debatable content in hopes that it will generate civil discourse. There\u2019s a class in the school calIed \u201cIsrael and Palestine on Campus\u201d and another titled \u201cBud Light to Colin Kaepernick: Dialogue in the Marketplace.\u201d<\/p>\n In class that day, DiSalvo spent extensive time reconstructing the logic and political appeal of men like Douglas in a neutral, and at times, even sympathetic, tone, without putting the moral horror of slavery front and center. That gave Smith-Barnes pause. She fears that a student could leave with the wrong idea.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t like the way that we\u2019re talking about these topics and debating views on slavery in the United States,\u201d said Smith-Barnes, a Black student. \u201cIn my experience going to a predominantly white institution, I already feel like I\u2019m sometimes at a disadvantage. Talking about these things in a way that is framed to be debatable can be uncomfortable.\u201d<\/p>\n She would rather this material be taught \u201cby someone who is more in touch with the struggles and effects of slavery, someone who is more aware and empathetic toward how hard that period of time was and how complex it is. It can\u2019t just simply be debated.\u201d<\/p>\n Smith-Barnes is among a fast-growing number of students who are enrolled in SCiLL courses, according to Chancellor Lee Roberts\u2019 internal preparation materials for a January interview with the Wall Street Journal<\/a>. The document was obtained through a public records request.<\/p>\n \u201cIn Fall 2024, the School offered three courses, enrolling 85 students. By Spring 2025, offerings had grown to 12 courses enrolling 277 students, and by Fall 2025, to 18 courses enrolling 475 students,\u201d the internal document reads. \u201cFor the 2025-26 academic year we anticipate that SCiLL will enroll more than 1,000 students. This is more than a 1,000% increase in just four semesters.\u201d<\/p>\n