Tensions around the UNC System were brought to a fever pitch Tuesday with protests taking place on campuses across the state to correspond with the first day under new System President Margaret Spellings.

One issue that has been Spellings past criticism of a PBS station that used funding on a cartoon with lesbian characters in 2005 when Spellings was U.S. Secretary of Education under George W. Bush.

The UNC Faculty Council passed a resolution last week saying “the President and Board of Governors of The University of North Carolina should uphold their responsibilities to all of the university’s students, staff and faculty by fiscally supporting and sustaining LGBTQ academic initiatives in a fully equitable and non-prejudicial manner.”

Faculty Chair Bruce Cairns tells WCHL’s Blake Hodge that Spellings responded to that resolution voicing her support for the resolution and the need to work together for the good of the higher education system in the Tar Heel state. Listen below:

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