The Daily Tar Heel
Printing news. Raising hell. Since 1893.
Tuesday, March 19, 2024 Newsletters Latest print issue

We keep you informed.

Help us keep going. Donate Today.
The Daily Tar Heel

National group speaks out on review of centers, institutions

The American Association of University Professors released a statement Tuesday expressing concern about the recommendation and the effect it could have on public universities’ academic freedom.

“Externally funded centers must be free to sponsor curricular and extracurricular programs and provide services to the public across the broadest range of perspectives and approaches,” the statement said.

It follows a statement signed by more than 60 UNC law faculty in opposition to recommendations to close the poverty center and curtail the activities of the Center for Civil Rights.

The board will discuss and vote on the recommendations at a meeting at UNC-Charlotte today and Friday.

Shannon Brien, a member of the UNC-CH BOG Democracy Coalition, said she is attending Friday’s meeting along with 15 to 20 other students from UNC-system schools.

“We want to show up and make it known that we are paying attention,” Brien said. “There’s nothing they can do to detract students.”

Jim Holmes, chairman of the working group, said in a press conference on Feb. 18 that the board is more concerned about the poverty center’s impact on law education and where it fits on campus.

“This is not a commentary on poverty proper. When we looked at where this particular center fits, and without all the focus on all the other stuff that’s been written, we would’ve come to the same conclusion,” Holmes said.

But UNC law students have begun posting testimonials of their experiences with the centers on a blog. David Harper, a third-year student, discussed how the poverty center impacted his education. He worked on a project involving foreclosures in Durham County.

“Doing the work there at the (center) alerted me to this pretty big issue, gave me valuable research experience, and it was stuff that was very different from anything I had ever studied or learned in a classroom,” Harper said.

Additionally, 139 UNC faculty members spoke out against the board, urging Chancellor Carol Folt not to follow the recommendations.

There has been speculation as to whether Folt has the power to act against the board’s closing of centers. In a letter to The Daily Tar Heel published Wednesday, UNC graduates Tim Longest and Joe Polich said the UNC Policy Manual delegates oversight of centers and institutes to their campuses. But a proposed revision might give the board power to review centers at will.

“It kind of strips power from campuses without explicitly saying so,” Longest said.

But according to a memo prepared by UNC-system General Counsel Thomas Shanahan, “The (UNC-system) president has broad administrative and executive authority, but even that broad authority remains subject to the direction and control of the Board of Governors.”

Still, the American Association of University Professors hopes the board will vote against the recommendations.

And Brien said she is grateful for the attention from national organizations.

To get the day's news and headlines in your inbox each morning, sign up for our email newsletters.

“It really helps put pressure on the board to understand that these issues extend beyond our individual campuses,” she said.

state@dailytarheel.com